Lecture: Understanding sectarian violence in a historical context

‘Current discourse on sectarian violence is essentialist, it does not take background factors into account’.

ISLAMABAD:

On the eve of Muharram, traditionally a time for heightened emotions, Dr Nomanul Haq, a former professor at Lahore University of Management Sciences discussed historical and socio-political reasons for Shia-Sunni animosity in the country.

The lecture titled ‘A Historian’s Tale of Sectarian Violence: Essence or Contingency’ was held on Thursday.

Haq said, “Sectarian violence has not emerged due to malicious intent on the part of a few individuals, it is the product of many historical and political factors.” According to the historian, the current discourse on sectarian violence was essentialist because it was without a historical background.

An essentialist approach implies that there exists something in the very essence of sectarian doctrines or in the very nature nature of perpetrators that explains this ruthless series of murderous acts.

Haq also pointed out that historically, there is significant contribution from Sunnis to the South Asian Ashura rituals, in the consolidation of the Karbala narrative and the majlis tradition. Stark segregations that have emerged within individuals and our society with regard to the Sunni-Shia conflict was a cause for concern, he added.  “We can’t re-arrange the past, but we can find out the reasons why these differences exist today and work to change them.”

Harris Khalique, writer and poet, who was on the panel cited the politics of colonisation and post-colonisation and the vicious cycle of initiation of  hatred towards opposing groups as part of the root cause of  sectarian violence.

Islamic Research Institute Director General Muhammad Khalid Masud stressed on the need for making the discourse of sectarian violence a dominant one in the country.

The event, held at Sustainable Development Policy Institute, was attended by a packed audience of religious scholars, academics, civil society representatives and media persons.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 16^th, 2012.