Sectarian attacks

Such is nature of sectarian killing, hate-speech that its difficult to escape suspicion that state looks away from it.

Sectarian attacks and killings are unfortunately daily occurrences now. They happen all over the country, often involve multiple murders as in the case of buses that are ambushed or bombed, and rarely if ever result in a prosecution of those responsible. Video clips of the killings are often posted on video-sharing websites where they receive hundreds of thousands of views very quickly. Sectarian diatribes pour from speakers every Friday despite legislation that proscribes hate speech and sectarian organisations, many of them banned, openly solicit money and make wall-chalking a blot on the landscape.

The latest attack not to hit the headlines was in Karachi, when a 45-year-old man was gunned down as he sat outside his shop. It was the second sectarian killing in Azizabad recently, the other being on June 2, 2014 when a 60-year-old was murdered. Neither of these killings made the front page of any newspaper. Beyond some pious bleating and an endless stream of political platitudes there is no serious or sustained attempt by the government to capture and prosecute those responsible. In many cases, they are identifiable individuals, their faces revealed in the video clips they so proudly post online. Their activities are well known in the communities they live in, they are not hidden away in some dark hole, they live openly and proclaim their sectarian hatreds without let or hindrance.

Such is the brazen nature of sectarian killing and hate-speech that it is difficult to escape the suspicion that at best the state looks away from it, since we hardly ever hear of instances where those involved in such heinous acts are arrested, tried and convicted. Besides, there is the nexus between sectarian groups, all of which are linked to jihadi outfits, and legitimate parts of the state such as seminaries and so on, and this link, too, is usually ignored by governments. Hence, to say that the state is complicit, because it looks the other way or appears reluctant or unwilling to act, would not be an exaggeration.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 18^th, 2014.

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