September 7, however, is also an anniversary of something – in addition to being Air Force Day. On this date, exactly 40 years ago, the constitution of Pakistan was amended.
Source/Credit: The News
By Ghazi Salahuddin | September 14, 2014
While in normal times we live with problems that are endemic, our difficulties now have become overwhelming. Because of the destruction they have caused, the floods portray the eternal deprivations of our people and the inadequacy of the rulers to contend with a recurring calamity. Simultaneously, there is also a sense of deluge in the political arena, with the ‘sound and fury’ of the two dharnas.
But I would like to focus on a separate issue. And it has been there for a long time, under the dark shadow of religious militancy and its uses in the context of our national security policies. I am referring to sectarian terrorism. There was a new wave of sectarian killings in Karachi this week.
What really matters is that people are being killed on account of their faith. In recent years, there have been some heart-breaking incidents in which hundreds of lives were lost. Yet, we are not aware of any nation-wide strategy to deal with a deadly discord that may actually threaten the survival of the country.
Essentially, we have to understand how religious intolerance and bigotry have taken root in our society and how the promise of Pakistan is betrayed by a sustained encouragement and fortification of a particular brand of orthodoxy and discrimination. In fact, most of our present democratic derailments would tend to have been inspired by this trend.
Let me, in this context, underline one anniversary in this season of anniversaries. All of us would remember 9/11 and how that unforgettable attack on the two towers In New York in 2001 changed the world. We had to suffer its consequences in many different ways. In fact, the debris of the two towers fell on us. The same day, of course, is the death anniversary of the Quaid – another allegory of loss. Besides, there is the ritualistic observance of the Defence of Pakistan Day on September 6.
September 7, however, is also an anniversary of something – in addition to being Air Force Day. On this date, exactly 40 years ago, the constitution of Pakistan was amended. It was the second amendment and it declared Ahmadis to be non-Muslims in Pakistan. Severe anti-Ahmadi riots had preceded the passage of this amendment in 1974.
What it meant and how laws enforced during the long night of Zia’s Martial Law multiplied its impact is something that I would advisedly not go into. The point to stress is that religious minorities in Pakistan have had a raw deal. The situation has gradually worsened. There have been bomb attacks on places of worship of these minorities and their members feel insecure.
You may recall that bomb attack on a church in Peshawar as the biggest single act of terror against the Christian minority. A number of other acts of violence and targeted killings may be mentioned. Only this week, there was a report about five Sikh families forced to leave Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Fata region. One knows about dwindling population of these minorities because their members are anxious to leave the country.
A deadly indictment it may be but we, as a nation, have failed our own citizens who are discriminated and sometimes persecuted because of their faith. Now, it would be argued that the sectarian issue is different and should not be linked with the travails of religious minorities and, in particular, of Ahmadis.
Still, the kind of primitive passions that are invested in sectarian killings are also manifest in other hate crimes. Overall, we have an environment in which fundamental human values are undermined and basic freedoms effectively curtailed. We have seen how blasphemy laws become an excuse for violence and for settling personal issues.
If you carefully examine the entire discourse that has engaged our politicians, either from the containers parked in D-Chowk or in parliament itself, there is hardly any specific concern for sectarian killings and the antagonism that is being nurtured in this respect. This aversion to some of the most crucial issues is really scary. Why is this cancer not present to our rulers and our opinion makers?
What we have witnessed in Karachi is alarming because it has been there for years, the tide rising and falling. In some respects, it is a part of the larger problem of unrest in Karachi. Again, Karachi has little prominence in the national discourse. So far as sectarian killings are concerned, the tragedy of the Hazara community in Quetta is monumental in its implications and dimensions.
This reminds me of the Human Rights Watch report on the ‘killings of Shia Hazaras in Balochistan’ released over two months ago. Its title: ‘We are the walking dead’. In January 2013, nearly 100 members of Hazara community were killed in a blast in Quetta. In February 2013, 84 persons were killed in a similar attack. Many more were injured.
The report urged the government of Pakistan that it “should take immediate measures to investigate and prosecute sectarian killing in Balochistan and conduct a broader investigation into sectarian killings in Pakistan”. A key recommendation of the report was: “Disband, disarm, and hold accountable all militant groups implicated in serious human rights violations, particularly the LeJ”.
There are obvious reasons why the rulers should take sectarian killings extremely seriously. I shudder to imagine the consequences of this animosity seeping into the administrative structures of our vital national institutions. Allied to this threat is the widespread danger posed by the infiltration of our institutions by radical elements. We know something about it on the basis only of published reports.
In a larger context, the Shia-Sunni divide has afflicted the entire Muslim world. Some recent developments in the Middle East have certified the deadly potential of religious extremism born of this divide. Historically, Muslims in South Asia have a better record of sectarian harmony. But partly because of foreign influences, the possibility of a sectarian conflagration in Pakistan cannot be totally ruled out.
David Brooks is a noted columnist of The New York Times. In August last year, he wrote a column with the tile: ‘One great big war’. This is how he began: “What is the biggest threat to world peace right now? Despite the horror, it’s not chemical weapons in Syria. It’s not even, for the moment, an Iranian nuclear weapon. Instead, it’s the possibility of a wave of sectarian strife building across the Middle East”.
We may well ask: what are the biggest threats to Pakistan’s survival? There may be others but violent sectarianism or, in other words, religious intolerance is certainly one of them. But does anyone care?
The writer is a staff member.
Email: ghazi_salahuddin@hotmail.com
Read original post here: Land of the walking dead
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