The three blasts, coming within hours of one another, were inevitable. We have known all along that the militants would target Shia mourners during the month of Muharram. It was just a matter of time and no matter how hard the government tried, it was going to be impossible to guard against each and every possible attack. Two of the attacks were at an imambargah in Orangi Town, Karachi, and one at a procession in Rawalpindi. At least 25 people have lost their lives and the Taliban have claimed responsibility for the attacks. No one wants to admit it but it is now undeniable: the various militant sectarian groups operating in the country have more or less declared war on the country’s Shia community.
The government has tried all kinds of unorthodox tactics in trying to prevent these attacks from taking place. It blocked cell phones and banned motorcycles from plying the roads. The problem with such methods, apart from the massive inconvenience they pose to the population, is that they are essentially defensive and reactive. Even if the government is able to stop 10 attacks, there will always be one that slips through the security net. We need the government and, more importantly, the state to go on the offensive in tackling the groups behind the violence. This means banning all groups spreading hate, arresting and trying their leaders and carrying out military operations against those that are involved in the violence. This should be followed up with their prosecution and conviction.
The government also needs to be honest in acknowledging the problem. The interior minister should no longer deny that there is sectarian violence in the country and that there is no “third force” behind this violence. The targeting of members of the Shia community has been continuing for several years now (though, in recent years, it has taken a more virulent form) and yet, we choose to remain in denial. What is worse is that many of the militant outfits involved in the sectarian attacks were at one time or the other ‘strategic assets’ of the state because of the latter’s penchant for fighting proxy wars. When, for instance, the jihad in Kashmir was turned off, these ‘assets’ began focussing their activities at home and the state simply responded by turning a blind eye to everything.
Published in The Express Tribune, November 23rd, 2012.
COMMENTS (10)
Comments are moderated and generally will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive.
For more information, please see our Comments FAQ
The People used are on sectarian bases but there is more than 3rd force behind all the happening in Pakistan.
@Kanwal: "All the religious scholors must be given extensive media coverage for this purpose."
I agre with your goal for peace and harmony but not the method yo indicate for achieving it. Pakistan's problem comes from too much focus on religion not too little. Each person is trying to prove they are more pious than the other and judging and willing to even kill people they deem less pious. Religion should be between a man and God (or is someone chooses to be an atheist/agnostic) that should be fine too. The constant public displays of religiosity and the unending cries of Islam khatre mein hai need to be given up if there is to be peace and harmony in Pakistan.
@Sara Abbas: I completely second this motion, Our sunni brethren must remember an awful event of not so distant past when a rally commemorating the Highest of all makhlooq our Prophet Mohammad (SAW) was targeted in Khi by the same firebrand petro dollar saudi fed disoriented lot. There is nothing even remotely islamic about them. It always has been and will always will lust for power and money for them. They are wrongly indoctrinated and pursuing the very line from which Allah forbids. There is a complete harmony amongst sunnis and shias and all want to remain peaceful and practice islam in peace, however, last 20 to 30 years have seen the surge in anti shia vehement and this is being used to create a divide amongst us all. May Allah save this country from the shackles of ignorance and maligned interests.
Shia Killings are nothing new but they have taken a new meaning in 21 century Pakistan.
I have never seen any Sunni ulema, civic groups, lawyer groups, religious groups even Imran Khan stand up or demand for protection of Shias. The consensus is to "let them die". The Talibaan have killed more Shias than the Israelis have killed Palestinians. Yet there are protests and demonstrations demanding justice for Palestinians but not, never for Shias.Sunni ulema must stand up for their brothers. There are demons within the system. Makes you wonder how far the Saudi/Talibaan money has changed the mindset of Pakistanis. The only way out for Shias is to immigrate or pray that they may live unmolested by some miracle.
At least someone is sane enough in the media's hierarchy to have indicated towards the glaring truth! there is no denying that the scum of earth which was "projected" as the "saviours" of the faith by branding these hooligans as "jehadists" behaved only as long as they were being fed and taken care by the disillusioned regimes and the moment their "livelihood" was stopped they turned their guns towards the very people from whose taxes they were being fed. It all seems as if some snakes were being fed milk, and no matter how much you feed them they will always bite. the need of the hour is to come clean and accept the bitter truth and then again have a genuine and strong willed effort to eradicate this menace once and for all.
@ Mustafa Moiz, please do tell me how convinient it was to to target innocent women and children in Meena Bazar (peshawar) and the innocent namazis in so many mosques around the country during prayer timings, because it is ignorant and irrational persons like you who are the silent suppporters of this mayhem, you will come to know of this once either you or someone near to you will recieve a body bag as a result of some blast or indiscriminate firing, THEN you will know whther it is a religous group or the lowliest forms on earth!
Well done ET! Thanks for bringing these facts to light.
No one wants to admit it because its not true. Yes, certain people are doing this to cause mayhem, if it was some other religious group, they would have been targeted as well, the purpose is to cause mayhem, and when a bunch of people fill up the streets in a procession, its an easy target.
Govt. to take unpopular steps . probably the feeling is that let us bear it till election outcome, a myopic mindset hesitating to take stern action.and let the winner shoulder the burden of tackling all other issues including extremism and also financial / economic issues.
The real culprits are siting on our media channels ,youtube, wearing big costly cloaks ,with impressive turbans and having big tiltes along with their names,with no real knowldge but rhetorics,inciting public for hatred ,stoping them from asking real questions unable to defend their false stands yet so stubborn.They are so fearless to defame quranic teachings for their vested intrests.what they know is to defend their ugly teachings in the name of Islam.One genuine scholar Javed Ghamdi (I don't always with his interpretion but I can say that this man is not hypocrite) tried to aware public from these thugs and talked about real message of Islam.What happened with him he was forced to leave Pakistan.Mullah rules and our intelegentia leave religious matters on them to interpret.(Bheron ke rakhwaly bhariye).Thea are really coward people they only understand the language of force.Mullah must be brought to justice across the board.
Great Editorial. The only way out of this is for the whole country to take a united stand. All the religious scholors must be given extensive media coverage for this purpose. But that will be asking a lot from the so-called silent majority. Still, thumbs up for the courage and determination of shia community.