NEW YORK,: More than 1,000 Shias marched in the streets of New York on Friday to voice their anger at the Pakistani government and the Taliban for what they called a "genocide" in their community.
"This demonstration is to condemn the violence of the Taliban, al Qaeda and all these extremists in Islam," said one 21-year-old US protester of Pakistani descent, who would only give his name as Komal.
"They are not considered Muslims, because they are doing what the Quran is against," he said.
The march - in which many women and children participated - started outside the UN headquarters and wrapped up at the Pakistani consulate.
Demonstrators carried signs bearing slogans such as "Stop the violence. We are people of peace" and "Pakistani Shias have the right to live."
A press release issued by the Consulate of Pakistan expressed solidarity with the Shia community and said that protecting and promoting the fundamental rights of all citizens of Pakistan regardless of their religion or ethnicity was a sacred mission of the democratically elected Government of Pakistan.
The embassy also assured the protesters that the petition of the "10,000 Souls March" would be transmitted to the concerned authorities in the country.
Last month, a bomb attack claimed by the Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) on a Shia procession killed eight and wounded 30 others as the community marked their holiest day of Ashura.
The blast followed another suicide attack - also claimed by the TTP - that killed 23 people at a Shia procession in Rawalpindi, the country's deadliest bombing for five months.
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I am wondering why the peoples are reluctant to condemn Taliban and their masters, Can I ask why Taliban giving shelter to Arab terrorist, the locals of Afghanistan and Pakistan do not have enough support among these countries that’s why they are depending on Arab's particularly Saudi Arab's Ryals and their propaganda machinery. If we accept this logic then Saudi will allow other Islamic brother to come to their country for supporting their opponents. Why the choose Pakistan/Afghanistan as a battle ground. For God sake, keep the religion out of politics, follow the golden rules of Islamic teaching or any other religion and give equal rights to all citizen of the state. If you will not give the equal rights, justice, respect, security, freedom of religious practice then don't expect their loyalty with the state. Equal rights, Equal responsibilities. No persecution on the basis of believe, color, region, language. Believe on humanity, peace and prosperity not on madness, murder of innocent people and destruction.
@Syed: Dear Badshah, Sunnies have no issue with shias because all of have common faith in the same Kalima, same Prophet and same Quraan. These are the terrorists and agents of foreign intelligence agencies who are desperately trying to make it a sectarian issue to destabilize our country. As a matter of fact we are deeply concerned about the Government's failure to nab these perpetrators and bring them to justice. I hope and pray that the situation will improve before we lose any more lives.
American government which is controlled by Jews want rift between shias and sunnis. Taliban are not Muslims but group started by America and Israel to weak Muslims. Don't fight among each other that's what our enemy wants. Both of us are getting killed. Please unite and fight enemy.
I wad there too. Sad to see some of the comments here though. Sunnis r not being targeted in pak for their faith. Instead of joining you shia countrymen in this protest you r condemning it. Seems like taliban mentality. No wonder its so easy to kill shias
Mainly Shia community is under threat but Brailvi brothers are being killed as well and only one group is killing both. Brailvi and Shia are not fighting with each other and this March was against people who have hijacked the name of sunni's.
Stop linking the whole world problem with Shia genocide in Pakistan
@Hafsa: Thank you Hafsa. After seeing some of bigotry and senseless comments, yours has brought a ray of light. God bless you.
@Malik: WTF. You have no knowledge and understanding about the history of Shia in general and Pakistan in particular. If Shia had got all position, it was because they were talented, learned, educated and gave so much sacrifice for the creation of Pakistan. At that time none of people like you have the capability to build and run that country. Now since you are killing them and are in majority in that establishement, look what you've done to that country which was once considered an Asian tiger.
@True Picture
Having shia members in your extended family makes you an expert in 'Shia affairs' now? I have nothing more to say on that.
If you haven't heard about the daily anxieties that your shia relatives have go through every day then you are not visiting or inviting them enough. Sit with them, listen to them, don't brush their problems under the carpet.
Peace, harmony, social integration, inter-faith dialogue are all happy and cozy concepts that you clearly want for Pakistan which is great; that's what I want too. Lets start by identifying our common enemies. I propose: Taliban (and the madrasa terrorists disguised as students of the Great religion of Islam)
@Mulla Kuta: Thats your lack of knowledge, neither Aamir Liaquat is a shia nor shias have ever pass 'wajibulqatl' verdict to any other muslim....
The target killings of shias are carried out by Zionist funded Wahabist cult to destroy Pakistan. The issue is why the majority of Pakistanis are indifferent to these inhumane brutal massacred in which shias are identified and shot dead in cold blood..
I attended the rally as a sunni muslim residing in US. I can attest that this rally was a united show of sunnis and shias against the genocide of the shia muslims in Pakistan. The main speaker Cyrus McGoldrick is a Sunni Muslim .
This rally was not sunni vs shia ..but a united call against the governments policy of inaction.
Shias marched because they are being killed in Pakistan; anything happening in other part of world should not have any direct impact on the lives of Pakistani. If you are justifying their killings just because there is no sunni general in Iran then its your mental aptitude unfortunately.
@True Picture: Then why didn't you participate in this rally and show solidarity with innocent. Shia genocide is happening in Pakistan; dont be an ostrich!!
@M.AKRAM: Would you mind telling me how many sunnis are killed by shia after stopping a bus and identifying. How many sunnis are slaughtered like animals by shias. Recently a dr. couple was shot dead just because they were shia. Has anything similar happened to any sunni. Never because shias never killed any innocent, its not in their upbrining. People like you are in state of denial and in your childish approach are supporting these heinous crimes and their perpetrators.
The idea that the protestors in New York City sit in their comfortable living rooms with no idea what goes on in the streets of Pakistan is ludicrous. Almost every single Shia American Pakistani has a family member who has been the victim of a targeted killing. Is this not enough of a personal reason to protest?
And one of the three speakers at this rally was a major Sunni activist from the New York Muslim community who also leads the cause of ending drone strikes on Pakistan. The only Shia religous scholar who spoke said Shias are not a minority, but part of the larger Muslim Ummah in Pakistan. The Pakistani Taliban and all other extremist groups who use violence are a disease in our own country that needs to be eradicated. The chants included "Shia Sunni Pakistani, No More Talibani". The silent majority of moderate Sunnis must rise up if we are to bring peace and stability to Pakistan. This is Muslims standing up for Muslims. Stop with the sectarian nonsense and join the fight for human rights, peace, security and dignity for all people in Pakistan.
How about Bahrain where 95% of Shia are being ruled by 5% of Sunnis?@shoaib:
I want to thank shias in US for helping raise the issue of indiscriminate killings of shias in pakistan. Today the wahhabis are taking over the country socially and majority of sunnis are helpless. This calls for sanctions against wahhabis supporting groups. US shias you can bring aboit a change by forcing your government to act against there extremists.
We should not forget to mention the name of the most dangerous organization which is known the small wing of the Al Quida , I.S.I, who is working behind this ville cause . This Organization also killing Baloch and messing in Afghanistan soil too. Shame on you Pakistan .
Dear shia brethern - state has failed in even realising the fact that a systematic cleansing is happening in this land of pure!!!! Look at hazaras - no one protested when news reports came of hazaras rotting in indonesian camps trying to flee pakistan........pl request UN for protection - state will not protect you.....from a sunni!
@Gujranwala789:
Who are you to tell Shia population to get out of Pakistan? It is because of small minded thinking like you people that muslims are being treated as terrorists. Sunni and Shia should be united in this cause.
Oh you imbeciles, clinging to your fantasies of foreign agents doing all the killing in Pakistan. You are truly hopeless!
The 10,000 number is to represent the people killed not tge amount present at the march. And MA more than 2,000 people showed up. @Ali:
@zaheer,,,, alawites are shias... and remember non of them oppesed to US otherwise 400000 thousand innocents won't have died...
@Mulla Kuta:
Amir Liaquat is not Shia. How that is relevant is anyones guess.
@Shoaib:
Wow, you must be an epidemiologist. Or at least with an extensive background in statistics and research. I mean how stupid does one have to be to figure out what percent of Pakistan is shia based on their representation in an classroom.
Not to mention how bigoted your thinking is. Lets just assume they are 5%. So what? Does that justify killing them?
Dear All Brothers and Sisters, the comments of educated people like u has disappointed me very much... we are giving comments agaisnt each other but not against our enemy, which are Taliban and terrorists of banned outfits. The killed our soldiers, doctors, academics, bussinessmen, children and women for their evil desire to impose their self style Shariah in pakistan. Its the time to standup against these evil designs to protect our beloved homeland not to engage or scuffle with each other in the name of Shia's, Sunni's, Ahmedi's, Chiristan's or any ethnic division... Plz for God Sake realize the situation before its too late
@Jibran It seems you didn't even get the point, pl read again knowledge is always helpful. Yr Jhangvi example shows your narrow mind n poor thinking, may Almighty help you. However, Mr. Altaf Hussain/his group needs to be tried in Pakistani Courts n as a Pakistani (if you are) should appreciate such a gesture. There was never n there is no genocide nonsense, it's greed of these individuals which (if not corrected) would invite what you suggested.
Dear Shia brothers when you have people like Mr Alim Online (Amir Liaquat) in your ranks who goes around calling other sects Wajibul Katil then what do you expect? - the pint is all must be allowed to practice religion in peace and with dignity but please condemn your own people like Mr Alim as well
Here's a quick solution to their problem. Shias have to immediately try and break-out of their PERPETUAL-GLOOM-AND-DOOM existence, and work on stopping their seasonal majalises and juloos pageantry rife with 'polytheistic and paganistic' rituals, symbols, nuances and connotations...which is intrinsically 'anathemical' to the 'Mainstream-Islam's-Core-Beliefs'...
And as far as their 'special-rights-of-blood-inheritance-and-privilege' contention is concerned, that was permanently closed and sealed in Prophet Muhammad's (PBUH) Last and Final Sermon on Dhul-Hijjah, 10 A.H. (623AD), in the Uranah valley of Mount Arafat in Mecca, (AND NOT GHADEER KHOM), with Allah (Himself), His Angels, His Creation, and more or less 124,000 Companions (RA) of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) as open witnesses to this ‘CONSTITUITION OF ISLAM...
Here's an excerpt from that Sermon testifying to that:
a. 'O’ People! Listen to my words, for I do not know whether we shall ever meet again and perform Hajj after this year. O’ Ye people! Allah says, O’ people We created you from one male and one female and made you into tribes and nations, so as to be known to one another. Verily in the sight of Allah, the most honored amongst you is the one who is most God-fearing. There is no superiority for an Arab over a non-Arab and for a non-Arab over an Arab, nor for the white over the black nor for the black over the white except in God-consciousness (Taqwa).
b. All mankind is the progeny of Adam and Adam was fashioned out of clay. Behold; every claim of privilege, whether that of blood or property, is under my heels except that of the custody of the Ka’bah and supplying of water to the pilgrims, O’ people of Quraish, don’t appear (on the Day of Judgment) with the burden of this world around your necks, whereas other people may appear (before the Lord) with the rewards of the hereafter. In that case I shall avail you naught against Allah'.
In my humble opinion, the Shia intellectuals and educated youngsters should look into this objectively, and seriously work towards LIGHT & ILLUMINATION with the resounding chant of PAKISTAN ZINDABAD!!!
These protesters will only incite militants to kill more shias now.
@Malik Thanks for pointing out certain facts n here some more. 25-years foreign office run by Mr. Agha Shahi ( Shia), Gen. Yahya ( Iranin Shaia), mother of Mr. Bhutto ( Iranin Shia), Mr. Bilawal ( Grand son of a Shia G.mother Shia) just name a few. It's amazing that Shia's sitting oversea's even have guts to talk about genocide.
@Malik: You are using exactly the same language that Jhangvi Maloun used to use. Use filthy propaganda to recruit extremists. It is sad that ET is now providing breeding grounds for the Wahabi extremists.
Time to apply another "Two Nation Theory". This time between Shia and Sunnis.
I don't understand all above comment. Pakistan is most peaceful & secular country in world.
@True Picture: You seem to be worried a lot about other countries than your own. Do your some soul searching. In Syria, its again Al-Queda.
Anyone who is saying that only a minority is against shias, Christians etc. are you guys living in Pakistan or amongst normal Pakistani society? or are you one of those 2% elite burgers who have never met common Pakistani people and write comments from your air-conditioned, plush furnished drawing rooms.
Anyone who has even an inkling of Pakistani society knows quite well how Sunni Pakistanis feel about shias. Have you not seen countless debates on youtube amongst Pakistani public and molana sahabs asking whether shia are murtid or kafir or any of these arabic adjectives. I have heard so many Pakistanis say so many weird things about shia matam and their other beliefs.
There is indeed systematic genocide of Shias, not by the government, or the sunnis, but the Wahabis. The president or PM being Shia has nothing to do with the topic of genocide.
From the day Pakistan independence government should disclose details of Shia's british trained bureaucrats who took over Railways, Telecommunications, Irrigation, PIA, Steel mill, Foreign Service just name few n what they did, they eat7 all the wealth of the nation than created a monster who sit in Britian and control them like remote control. Shame on you people by even thinking to demonstrate like this. 70-percent of so called champions of Shia genocide are those living in USA who are drawing salaries from above mentioned departments n living in USA. Even Minister Sattar cannot deny this fact. Especially in NewYork n Texas these culprits live n rape Akisran economy by withdrawing salaries in Pakistan from these departments. Mr. Altarf Hussain must be arrested n brought back to Pakistan along with his renegade leaders. Britian needs to be put on check list to start behaving as a civilized 21st white, greedy n being the most menipoliting nation on this planet.
Those who are killing innocent Pakistanis discriminately (Sunnis, Shias, Chiristian, Hindus, Ahmedis etc) are all terrorists and our people and state should not have any sympathy for them.
@True Picture: Alawites are not shias, it is an old small sect dates back to 9th century. The political understanding of Syrian govnement and Iran is more for strategic interests as both are opposed to US and its allies in the Middle East.
@Saif Those calling the current killings of Shias in Pakistan a genocide, are more emphasing on the continuous persecution of Shia's over the last 40 or above years.
No doubt, terrorists are killings everyone in Pakistan today, but what about the silent persecution of minorities in Pakistan for decades?
We cannot live in peace with close eyes and ostrich mentality my dear friends.
Shia Genocide? Is it a joke or another one of Mr. Altaf Hussain stunt? Pakistan must get man extradited from Pakistan n put on trail, as long as this cancer remains no peace will come to Karachi or Pakistan.
There is no tit for tat conflic tbetween the shia and sunni. Thats a fact. The Sunnis who are being killed because of their religiion are also being killed by the same people who are killing the shia - i.e. Takfiri Deobandi. It is not the Shia who are killing the Sunni. Thats a fact. The biggest problem is that these jihadis are trained and protected by our military and funded by rich Saudis. In Pakistan democratically electedd governments do not matter. Most policies are made in GHQ. The Prime minister or the President serve only the purpose of bearing the anger of the public. The Shia in Pakistan are nit responsible for Iran. Were the Sunnis in Pakistan responsible for the brutal suppression of the Shia in Iraq by Saddam?
And yes by the way, Zardari along with most other members of the PPP all the way back to Benazir and Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto have all been Shias.
@Ahmad Shias don't misrepresent Pakistan, it's the media that does so by only promoting Shias that claim "genocide! genocide!". Most of us know that there are foreign elements that want to destabilize the country any way they can. Why aren't Shias like me and my friends ever given the mic for some moments, the only one who gets it here are haters, Shias and non-Shias alike.
I'm a Shia and it's good to hear of such news. But truth be told there is no "Shia genocide" apart from the one on the news. Yes, we're targeted and Imambarghas are bombed. But look at the big picture, when we hear of 20 people dying every day in Karachi, a majority of them are Sunnis. When we hear a mosque is bombed, it's usually Sunni. People here suffer by proportion of population, 60% of those who die are Sunnis, 30% are Shias and 10% are others. I'm proud to be a Pakistani along with my Sunni brethren.
@Ahmad: "Pakistan is a country where just a year back you had a shia president and prime minister." Please name the shia president.
Shia and Sunnis are brothers. There are foreign elements who are trying to create differences between the two sects to destroy Pakistan.
Shia are an unimportant religious group , in most of pakistan they are under 10% of total population , they cannot dictate how pakistan will be run. Pakistan is a Sunni-majority state which should be clear to everyone. Pakistani culture is shaped by Sunni culture. Shias can go to iran or iraq if they dont feel comfortable in pakistani sunni culture.
Educate instead of being jealous. Creator of Pakistan was also a shia. Right?
@zaheer... govt ib syria is a shia govt killing and opressing suni majority for past 4 decades.. better you get some knowledge...
@Zaheer: Bashar Al Asad is from an alowite minority, do check your facts again regarding alowites & why Iran supports his government :) Pakistan is not committing any genocide since everyone is being targeted! you should compare Bosnia, Kashmir, Palestine & Syria with Pakistan to get a fair idea about what genocide really is.
Foreign agents are killing shias and sunnis in syria. May be Mossad.
Stop asking us for money. no pakistan gov't will do that, including Taliban Khan.
@S K Afridi "There is no sectarian problem in Pakistan. Terrorist and foreign agents are killing people without any distinction."
Agree.
These are Indian Hindus disguised as Pakistani Shia muslims.
"Foreign Agents" make work in Pakistan. Because of greed for money. Isn't a fact that they are ready to sell for a bottle of whisky?
@Adil: I have many shia's in my family so don't tell me you know more than anyone else! nor you are aware of the demographics of Pakistan nor you are aware of the fact that there are so many top positions held by shias in Pakistan! In genocide only one segment is targeted & that segment is not given equal opportunity nor they're given lowest of lowest positions let alone important positions! Either you don't live in Pakistan or believe in creating divisions just for fun! please get your facts right & get your definition of genocide right. in Syria you see a direct conflict between the alowites & sunnis, what's that? is Pakistan army killing shia's, or Hindus or Christians? Pakistan is no Syria, Kashmir, Israel-Palestine, etc where real genocide is going on (read about Bosnia then you'll know what is genocide)! Pakistan is fighting with foreign funded groups who want to break up this country, if there was any discontent for shia community then why I never had any problem in my family? why shia's are in Police, Army, Bureaucracy? Why Asif Zardari our president who is a Shia himself & ex-PM Gilani? Stop distorting facts & stoop inciting hatred by impersonating as a true Pakistani.
Shias are 30 percent of Pakistan and growing, despite many attempts to diminish their presence through genocide.
There is no sectarian problem in Pakistan. Terrorist and foreign agents are killing people without any distinction. If the people protesting New York feel that the Government is not doing its bit then instead of protesting they should come to Pakistan and do some thing about this curse.
@shoaib: Shoaib, you are not getting the point. There is no link between the state of Shia's in Pakistan with current Syrian violence or Iran.
By the way, instead of giving anecdotal evidence or hearsay, please read something concrete.
Syrian government is not a Shia government neither the current violence in Syria is a Shia-Sunni conflict.
@ True Picture it is time that the majority stops denying that the minorities are being targeted in Pakistan, be that Shias, Bohris, Ahmadis, Christian or Hindu. The quicker the majority accepts responsibility, the quicker Pakistan would be able to move forward. The killings of Sunnis is sporadic and mostly political in nature. I don't hear about Sunni processions and gathering, doctors, social workers, professionals, etc being targeted because they are Sunnis. No, that happens with Shias only, for the reason that they are Shias, and that's it.
So wake up before the extremists brand and majority Sunni as heretic as well just because you don't wear a turban or have a beard that goes right down to your knees and killing you on the basis of the length of your beard or hair. The same happened in Afghanistan during theTaliban regime.
No other community is being killed after checking their ID cards except the shias and this the difference the other people should understand.
I am reading an autobiography of Mr.M.C.Chagla,first Muslim foreign Minister of India,great patriot,nationalist,visionary,great admirer and colleague of Mr.Jinnah but broke all ties with him when he advocated two nations theory on the religious lines and a Shia,gave a speech in UN assembly in 1964 and how true it is.I am appending part of his speech. "Many countries today have living in them people of different races, religions and cultures, and future of the world depends upon evolution of multy-racial States and nations in different parts of the world.Pakistan thesis is reactionary and obscurantist one.Pakistan would have the hands of clock set backwards, and would go back to the days when countries permitted only one religion and persecuted those who followed another faith….
Pakistan is a country where just a year back you had a shia president and prime minister. The countries largest political party has a disproportionate shia representation. MQM has a disproportionate shia representation. The bureacracy of Pakistan has a disproportionate shia representation. The countries leading media outlets have a huge shia representation. Its a shame, that the scourge of terrorism which has mostly affected sunnis is misrepresented by shias as a genocide. If shias continue to misrepresent Pakistan then I am afraid that this would affect the sunni majority consensus towards shias. And this would inadvertently affect the sunni-shia relationship which could go horribly wrong for shias living in Pakistan.
It is not just the Talibans who are involved in this hatred and genocide of our Shia bretheren but most of these extremist religious parties claiming to be Sunni representaives are equally responsible by settling their scores, and we as a nation are to accept our part in this crime against ourown people, we are part of this criminal conspiracy by remaining silent and thus supportive of them by implication.
Both shia and suni are killing each other no one is washed with milk
i dont' see this as 10 thousands, but just a mere 100. FAIL media propaganda.
@ True Picture
No, Taliban and LeJ are not targeting ALL pakistanis. There is a specific campaign against the shia if you read their literature (example: quetta, look it up). Yes hundreds of other pakistanis are also dying for various different reasons but you can't untangle this mess until you are clear about each component. So lets be clear about this uncomfortable fact, Shia genocide IS a Pakistani problem.
@Ayesha:
so you are saying that Taliban killibg shias in particular and Pakistanis in general is fine because we are siding with Americans in Afganistan? Kabul wasnt exactly Tokyo before US invasion so spare us the drama.
and yeah there is also an Ahemdi family in my lane living here for a long time! everyone is aware of the fact that percentage of illiterate haters is extremely low but foreign funded groups working to incite violence is far greater & we know who they are & what are their objectives, its not about Shariah law or dominance of one sect, its about breaking this state called Pakistan.
excuse me, all Pakistanis are being targeted !!! I'm sure the organisers of this so called rally want to create division & malign Pakistan while they enjoy living in New York, I wonder how many of them were Pakistanis. In my family I have both shia & sunnis but we never had any problem since we call ourselves Muslims & we know that there are forces out there which are trying to create unrest for decades !!!