MELBOURNE: A lot has been written on the killings of Hazaras in Balochistan in recent times. The Hazaras claim that they have lost over 1,000 people over the last decade; many have migrated to other countries, particularly to Australia where I live. I interact with Hazaras on a daily basis and have noticed that they are culturally quite close to the Afghans and Iranians due to their historical links. Leaving history and wrongdoing of the British colonials aside, it is interesting to ponder over the reasons why they have become such soft targets in recent times and why not in the past? This can mainly be attributed to the turn that the Pakistani state took after the military takeover of General Ziaul Haq, during whose time, the country increasingly adopted the path of Islamisation. Balochistan has traditionally been a province of fiefdoms and the state never functioned there in the manner that it did in other parts of the country. There have been two groups of Baloch nationalists, i.e., the pro-establishment sardars and the anti-establishment sardars. In the 1980s, the state established a web of religious seminaries, particularly in the areas under the pro-establishment sardars. This was done to neutralise the centrifugal trends of the Baloch people. The majority of the Baloch population followed Sufi-inspired, inclusive Islam. The only anti-thesis to this could be a militant Salafi version.
Similar efforts were made in rural Sindh but the province’s strong cultural nationalism enabled it to resist such a trend. I believe that it is the fear of backlash from strong Sindhi nationalist forces, which has till date, kept right wing forces in check in rural Sindh.
The policy of promoting the Salafi version of religion has now taken roots and has fractured Pakistani society to an almost irreparable extent. The anti-pluralistic, orthodox right forces have gained so much power that they are now easily putting their agenda in practice. This may be pleasing for some elements within the establishment but in reality, this is suicidal. The remedy to this state of affairs is an education system that propagates humane values and teaches respect for human life. In addition, the state needs to withdraw support for the ultra right forces, take them on and defeat them.
Malik Atif Mahmood Majoka
Published in The Express Tribune, January 17th, 2013.
