The genocide continues

Genocide is not an easy word to use. It brings to mind war crimes of the very worst kind: the holocaust in Europe, tribe-based killings in Rwanda, the massacres during the civil war in former Yugoslavia as it fell apart. But genocide is what we are now facing in our own country, and the Shias are the victims. The latest atrocity committed against them came on March 3, in the predominantly Shia Abbas Town locality of Karachi. At least 45 persons were killed as a powerful explosive was detonated along a residential street lined with flats in the heart of the area. A second blast is reported to have occurred within minutes of the first.

The scenes of mayhem and misery that followed are horrendously familiar to all of us. Words are no longer sufficient to describe them. And of course, we cannot even begin to understand the grief of the families. The Pakistani flag was flying at half-mast. It droops in shame, and all of us, too, should be wondering why we have not done more to prevent such a situation from developing. All our heads should hang low. Yes, the security apparatus has failed totally. Yes, it is shocking and in bad taste that shortly after the blast, hundreds of policemen were deputed at the Mohatta Palace to guard a VIP function while, according to reports, they were nowhere to be found at the blast site. But as strikes and protest rallies, joined by all the opposition parties, continue across Karachi, we too, as citizens should ask why we have been silent and watched as things grow more violent, as more people fall and as the killing of Shias becomes more and more widespread. Candle-light vigils are clearly not enough. Indeed, we wonder today if anything can stop the mayhem and the destruction of society.



After all, we have this year seen very similar atrocities in Quetta. Since the start of this year, nearly 200 Shia Hazaras have been killed in bomb attacks, specifically targeting them and conducted within their localities. Hundreds of others have been injured and the Hazaras of Quetta have vanished from mainstream life, locking themselves away within their ghettos in the hope of finding safety. For the most part, their efforts have been in vain. The killers have reached them. Indeed, the targeted killing of Hazaras has continued for years. It has only now picked up pace.

The similarity between the attacks in Karachi and Quetta should also not go unnoticed. In each case, the killers have specifically targeted the Shia majority localities, used immense force to ensure a high death toll and succeeded in their efforts. Abbas Town has indeed also been hit before, though this attack was the worst it has faced — the fires from the blast creating an inferno as structures collapsed amidst smoke and shrill screams.

Once more, in the helpless aftermath of the blasts, fingers have been pointed towards the Lashkar-e-Jhangvi. But this blame game, too, is becoming meaningless. Amidst talk of forces used as ‘strategic assets’ or for other purposes, it is hard to tell fact and fiction apart. What we need to keep before us is a distinct picture of reality. The Shias of our country are being massacred. They have fallen to both blasts and targeted killings aiming for professionals. This situation is simply intolerable; it cannot be allowed to continue. But the question we need to ask is how long we will wait before any real action is taken. Why do our agencies not act? Why are arrests made so rarely and what forces are behind the horror we see? Answers need to be found to these questions. If they are not, we will see only more scenes such as the unbearable ones witnessed in both Quetta and Karachi, with no guarantee that there will in the future be no further mass killings carried out in the same fashion.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 5^th, 2013.