Denying the obvious

The Shia and Sunni residents of Abbas Town have chosen to stick together while senate remains confused.

The tragedy in Karachi continues in more ways than one. The violence that broke out as mourners attempted to bury their dead was, of course, unfortunate. It can only add to the sense of anger and frustration amongst the Shias. On a more positive note, the Shia and Sunni residents of Abbas Town have chosen to stick together, jointly condemning the attack as one on all Muslims, while a massive relief effort has been launched by the citizens of Karachi for the victims of the blast, many of whom still struggle for life in city hospitals.

What is disturbing, however, is the lack of clarity over the massacre demonstrated in the Senate. Senators from across the political divide termed the killings a “conspiracy” of some kind, directed against Pakistan and possibly connected to the handing over of the Gwadar port to a Chinese company or the Iran-Pakistan gas pipeline project. Others put forward still less logical views, blaming the attack on PPP politician Sharmeela Farooqui and arguing that it had occurred because the entire police force of Karachi was attending the security arrangements at her engagement. Other theories, too, came forward. But the good senators of the state appeared to have forgotten that sectarian killings have now been continuing for years in our country. They have taken place at regular intervals in Karachi, Quetta, the tribal areas and elsewhere. While other factors may indeed be involved to some degree, the truth is that the Abbas Town carnage is essentially the result of a failure to deal with extremist forces or bring them to book for what they have been doing.



Someone has to accept responsibility for this failure. There is simply no point in laying blame wherever someone pleases. The Shia genocide we are seeing is obviously a systematic affair. It can stop only if we deal with it systematically and with a clear purpose in mind. At the present, no such strategy seems to be in place. We see a complete security failure, but also it appears, a lack of will and effort. If this continues unchanged, more graves will need to be dug to bury the dead belonging to minority communities across our country.

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