The art of blackmail

Leadership without empathy leads to tragedy.

That the Prime Minister has little patience for political dissent is clear. Yet, even his most cynical opponents must have been shocked at how he managed to make a protest by a persecuted minority all about himself.

The term ‘gaslighting’ refers to a method where someone is manipulated into questioning their own sanity. A form of psychological manipulation that is abhorrent if done by an ordinary person, it is especially distressing if done by an elected Prime Minister towards an oppressed group.

That is exactly what we saw the Prime Minister do when he stated that the Hazaras should not blackmail him into coming to Quetta. A statement for which he has so far not apologised. His justification was that he was addressing those (read: the Pakistan Democratic Movement, PDM) who were trying to play politics over dead bodies.

This stance regarding playing politics has always confused me. Mostly, because it is almost always taken by a political group trying to deflect responsibility from themselves. The American gun lobby makes the same argument every time a school shooting happens and there are calls for more gun regulation. It is simply pretence.

In fact, it makes sense that tragic events be politicised. Disassociation from politics is something only a privileged few can afford. The Hazara massacre is a political issue, and if it isn’t made one then the plight of the Hazara will continue to be ignored.

The Hazara community can hardly be blamed for taking steps to demand the Prime Minister’s attention. Only abject suffering and frustration can force a person to refuse to bury their loved ones. The death of 11 coal miners is just the latest in a succession of tragic events that has left a traumatic mark on one of the most persecuted communities in the country.

Repeated persecution has caused them to, quite literally, set sail for places where their very existence does not create a death warrant. They are compelled to spend their life savings to board ships sailing for New Zealand, Australia, and Indonesia. Most don’t survive the journey.

Even if they do, life is not necessarily better. In Indonesia, for example, they are not allowed to work or even attend schools. The only solace is that they will not be killed indiscriminately while the state looks the other way.

This is the life we have forced upon this community. Our collective shame should haunt us. To call their protests blackmail is a moral nadir we may never be able to recover from.

It is difficult to understand the life of fear the Hazara live in. In a harrowing account, a coal miner described to writer Akbar Notezai how the Hazara miners were a “different breed” altogether: “Because of fear of sectarianism they work in double shifts, day and night, and hardly come out of the coal mine due to the fear of being recognised as Hazara and inviting sectarian threats.”

The depths of a coal mine are safer than the surface.

When the Prime Minister finally made his trip to Quetta, after the bodies were buried, there were cash compensations announced and promises made. The Hazara have heard all this before. They need to hear concrete plans for reform and rehabilitation.

The first step towards a solution is understanding why the problem exists. The Hazara are targeted because they are Shia — there is no other reason. The motive is sectarian and the killings have historically been carried out by sectarian groups. The state has to acknowledge that to be Shia in Pakistan — much like all religious minorities — is to be persecuted. Pakistan’s nurturing of sectarianism and sectarian groups has resulted in the loss of countless lives. Sectarianism roams free throughout the country. It has greater freedom than the Hazara do. It has been mainstreamed into viable political candidates.

In 2018, Aurangzeb Farooqi, the leader of the ASWJ, a group that makes no secret of its disdain for Shias, contested elections in Karachi. ASWJ is a proscribed organisation, so Farooqi ran under a new political party by the name Pak Rah-e-Haq Party (PRHP).

If the state wants to be serious about eliminating sectarianism, it needs to stop pretending like sectarian groups are reborn just because they change their name.

Neither can the state allow a new breed of hate to take root. The TLP took part in the 2018 elections as well. This year it got together with the ASWJ to hold an anti-Shia rally in Karachi.

That is one issue. The second is that the Hazara are overwhelmingly situated in a province that Pakistan’s central leadership has seldom cared about.

Actually, that is incorrect. We do care about Balochistan. When its minerals and gas are involved. It is its lives that are expendable.

In this province, the state has seldom done anything to establish law and order. Tragedies here are used as an excuse to crush dissent rather than end sectarian violence.

If the state is serious about protecting the Hazara, it can start with creating a clear strategy over addressing these two issues. While it is at it, we can also hope that the Prime Minister learns some empathy. It goes a long way.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 12^th, 2021.

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