Perhaps, because the thoughts are so forbidding and forbidden that every day honest words are no longer possible. How else can one explain the bombing of hospitals and schoolchildren in Gaza as being termed “justified retaliation”? How else does it make sense to term an attack by a mob burning down houses of Ahmadi residents, killing young children a “clash”? Who was the mob “clashing” with? Humanity, perhaps.
At least, some of us, and our leaders, can find it in themselves to condemn the murder in Gaza, even if feebly. What about the Ahmadi children murdered? The Urdu press could not even identify the religion of the children killed, some omission, given that they were only killed because of belonging to that religion. The chief minister of Punjab, Mian Sahib the younger, has no words of condemnation.
The chief minister will not be going to the house of the Ahmadi children killed because it is not good marketing. The Younger Mian will choose his words, if there are any, very carefully since the elder Mian, the now absentee prime minister once did not. After the mass slaughter of Ahmadis in their “places of worship” (so much for honest speak), Mian Nawaz Sharif made the horrible mistake of calling the murdered and their families as “fellow Pakistani brothers” and sure enough had to mumble excuses and clarify what he meant the next day. Reflect on this, for nothing else but for calling them “Pakistanis” and “brothers”.
A nation, state and society can begin to consider an entire people, a community as evil, even their kids, and being remorselessly complicit in killing. The Ahmadi debate is nonexistent. The vernacular media cannot even say the word, ‘Ahmadi’, not even when children are burnt alive, burnt to death. The State has not only declared them ‘non-Muslims’, it has also prohibited them from using ‘religious symbols’, and the court has held that these religious symbols are like ‘trademarks’. Worse, society does not care. We, the people, are not disturbed when Ahmadis are killed. No, we are not. “All death is condemnable”, “nobody should take law in their own hands” and “the rule of law should be established” is meaningless and often cowardly gibberish in this particular context. If the chief minister/s and the prime minister cannot say that the persecution of the Ahmadis has to stop and the perpetrators held accountable, then that’s that, Sirs, by all means go on and build your flyover to hell.
Ordinary, (formally) educated people respond to the murderers by saying ‘it is unfortunate, however, they also need to be careful, etc.’. Really now? Careful of or from doing what? From existing? That is correct. The existence of the Ahmadis is the real problem. The Ahmadis are ‘heretics’ and heretics can be killed, burnt alive along with their children, and of course, it will be ‘regretful’ and the rest of it. However, it is no great tragedy.
The Shias are one step removed from that position right now. Not for long though, and then the next group, and the next, you know the script and the oft-quoted, now cliched sayings.
It is not only the government. What is the position of the opposition on this? Will the revolution come for the Ahmadis and the Shias as well? Where is the sustained, unmitigated media outrage? There is no outage on media because nobody is outraged.
Why do most people not speak on the issue is a simple question. Speaking on the issue gets you killed. And since not many want to be killed, the murder and persecution of the Ahmadis has become a news item and that too in the language of a ‘clash’ between ‘two groups’ on a ‘religious issue’.
The language of Pakistani nationalism is religious and ostensibly ‘non-sectarian’. Except, it is not. To deliberately not mention sects is to make a statement, a statement for the dominant sect to the exclusion of others. To not acknowledge diversity is not a sign of unity; it is more often than not ‘fascism’.
The bureaucratic and distant language when describing persecution and witch-hunt is hypocritical and cowardly when used for Gaza or Gujranwala. Silence is even worse.
The Ahmadi persecution needs to stop but all of this seems moot, at this point. And perhaps, it is. However, the demand has to be made. One is aware of the hopelessness of the situation and the real fears associated with it. I perhaps, cannot write all of this in an Urdu daily. An Urdu daily, which is looking to continue in business, will not publish it. Perhaps, I will not write it in Urdu so as to not attract too much risk and delay the inevitable.
All of this does not obscure the fact, that the inevitable is being expedited for the Ahmadis, the Hazara and other Shias and it will only get worse, unless, the majority decides to stick its neck out, and by the sheer number of potential victims, make the job harder for the killers and the State, which fosters these killers.
Not speaking on the Ahmadi killings does not dis-entitle one from speaking on Gaza. There is no binary here. The practice of equating and comparing atrocities is just silly. Deliberately ignoring looking Ahmadi persecution in the face might not even make one a hypocrite, just a bigot and/or worse, a coward.
Published in The Express Tribune, August 3rd, 2014.
Like Opinion & Editorial on Facebook, follow @ETOpEd on Twitter to receive all updates on all our daily pieces.
COMMENTS (21)
Comments are moderated and generally will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive.
For more information, please see our Comments FAQ
This planet was provided by God for all living beings.
thanks and salute on your courage
Totally agreed with the writer. With each passing day, the society that we live in is becoming dangerously intolerant. No wonders if Pakistan is known for minorities as a dangerous country to live in. And well, to expect a condemnation from our political leadership, opposition and/or other mainstream political figures will be wishful... we can expect them to exploit this unfortunate event to their own political point scoring and mud-slinging. What a Hapless Nation we are.
Excellent, each word true and hard hitting.
Thanks for exposing the hypocrisy . I was listening to a Jewish scholar's interview other day. He was saying, he had never complained of Nazi hitler but he was and is still angry that what happened to decent civilized Germans who did not stand up and stood up against hitler So question is what has happened to decent and civilized Pakistani if there are any. When you talk to them in simple terms to these educated(in technical education like doctor , engineer....) they get upset with concepts of secularism, human dignity, democracy and tolerance it sems that as as we have come from other planet.
If we have enough people with guts and intelligence to agree with your excellent article there is still hope for the emergence of a progressive and successful Pakistan ? With what credentials can we speak out against the slaughter in Palestine when we commit the same unspeakable crimes against our own citizens.
Brilliant piece of writting. May Allah save our souls and country.
The fundamental escaped you. The 1974 laws declaring Ahmedi muslims out of the pail of Islam is unprecedented in the history of modern legislation. No other muslim country considered this despicably degenerative and divisive piece of legislation worth emulating. The state has no right to define and identify the faith of a citizen or a group of citizens. It was the beginning of the end. When measuring muslimness became a regular practice. First the state took upon the responsibility of categorizing muslims and non-muslims. This opened up doors to a judgemental, bigoted and intolerant society. The next step was to identify the good muslims and the not so good muslims, followed by Shia persecution. Unfortunately Shia leadership couldnt see it coming their way, back in 1974 that after ahmadiyya community it would be their turn. At the Gujranwala incident, reports suggested that perhaps out of fear of the majority denomination, Shias supported madness instead of playing the sane element. This year in September the Ahmediyya laws will complete 4 decades of unleashing persecution against this community of Pakistanis. Not sure if the government is taking any serious measure to avoid any tragic incident such as the one took place in Gujranwala recently or mobs will have their way and they will kill at will while the enforcers will be lookers-on and in certain cases provide protection until they have their fill. And this is the state called Pakistan
great words ...reading sane voices makes me hopeful about Pakistan.
You make some very good points. I agree that the loss of human life anywhere should be considered an outrage, whether in Gaza, Pakistan or any other part of the world. However, Pakistan has extensive killings, shooting attempts and injustices taking place as well that are addressed, but not as fervently as what I have noticed in the national reaction to Gaza's conflict. You're right that ppl are driven by fear to keep their opinions subdued, but that reality should make Pakistanis even more furious and resentful since they are living in a country where the government they elected can't give them the security they need to even write freely, let alone feel safe after writing something controversial. That is something they should speak out against as well with heated aggression, but the ideals of democracy are at stake so many people have resigned to giving this government a chance to prove itself. Then, in order to remain patriotic, I've noticed that Israel has become a scapegoat, being presented as the world's evil genius while the Taliban are considered to be "misguided missionaries on some international country's payroll" or "controllable with the help of negotiations", negotiations which recently faltered.
"Tujh se sharminda hain aye sheedon ke khon kiy karain nazar tujh ko thai dast hain hum" The outrage on the shameless murders of women and children cannot be expressed in words. Saroop you are one of the faint voices of reason in the jungle of our vociferous society.
Good on you Saroop - salute to you for such a great writing - you have won our hearts….!!
Dear Saroop, I hope and encourage you to write further and ask question to Pakistani media, society as "why Ahmadis are not given the right to defend themselves on media.? why one sided Mullahs are spreading fabricated blames on Ahmadi beliefs and Ahmadis are not given the opportunity to express their point of view? Are they not equal citizens of Pakistan? Justice demand that on all talk shows whenever Ahmadiyya community is discussed their spokesperson/representative should have the right to participate and express their point of view. The media remembers ethics of journalism but totally ignores when it comes to matter of Ahmadis.
Best, Syed Mahmood
@ RHS: You have stolen my words mate :) - This man's thoughts and writings reflects the true meanings of humanity and what it actually means..!
This article has brought me to tears, what has happened to our society, people are scared to say any thing in defense of those who has different faith. It seems Pakistanis will eventually tear themselves apart, there is no tolerance of others and who is doing all this. No wonder Pakistan is considered a lawless country around the world. I thought Jinnah's Pakistan was suppose to embrace the people of all kind of faiths and those of different faiths were to be called Pakistanis too. Ahmadis has and even now renderd services to the State of Pakistan, there is no denying it. Thank you for bringing this up and took the courage to challenge the opposition in the Parliament to acknowledge their views about this heart wrenching cold blooded murders.
Yes you actually can get killed for speaking on certain issues in this godforsaken country "The Land of Pure Bigots" sorry to say. Pakistani society has become so intolerant that if you speak about Ahmedi or Shia persecution even if you don't belong to these sects, illiterate mullahs and their ignorant followers would persecute you. What nuisance is this and when will it end? When will Pakistan become a modern, enlightened and a tolerant country?
Who will speak and stand by the terrorized minorities of Pakistan who are equally Pakistanis and human beings. Taking someone's life for being a follower of any specific sect or religion is absolutely insane and it must be condemned in a loud voice. Brilliant piece Saroop.
Saroop, you are a breath of fresh air in the often stagnant discussion in Pakistan. You, in the true sense are a reminder of what Pakistan once was and what it still could be. I am not Ahmadi but ANY person with an ounce of humanity should feel for them as one feels for the innocent in Gaza. Thanks for writing this article.
The religion in Pakistan has been turned into a big stick to beat themselves with. Self flagellation won't help. The case of Gaza is entirely different and there is no equivalency. Gazans are struggling to free themselves from oppression. Israel has turned Gaza into a prison making normal life impossible. It is in connivance with Egypt and USA. The big casualties are Gazan children and US reputation. PM of Israel has rebuked USA for any disagreement and Obama looked pathetic pleading for the release of one Israeli soldier captured by Hamas and calling it a barbaric act. USA looks like a helpless giant. Putin is watching and probably laughing.
This is not Pakistan of Jinnah but Pakistan of Hindu congress where Jinnah's opponent aka mullah has hijacked this country giving Hindus false justification that partition was a wrong idea and that Jinnah was a fundamentalist.Pakistan will never have peace unless we route out mullah of congress.
Well said Saroop! Totalitarian society bordering on fascism brokers no dissent particularly when it comes to matters of religion. I commend Saroop for his principle stand and wish him all the best in the land of pure!