“…which made me think a man a worm”
Born of Muslim parents and brought up in an Islamic environment, one’s religious credentials were taken for granted. Rather late in age, one has started wondering whether one would still be qualified to be called a Muslim. More so, whether one would actually like to be called one!
Growing through all those years, one did not have to carry the tag of a Sunni or a Shia, a Deobandi or a Wahabi or an Aslafi. One’s recognition, and in certain cases even survival, did not really depend on one’s association with one sect or the other. That appears to be no longer the case. One’s head is bowed in shame at the manner in which violence has become an every-day norm in the country and the barbarity and brutality with which it is being perpetrated in the name of religion. It is harrowing, it is humiliating, it is inhuman. Bombs are being hurled at innocent people simply because they are Shias. This is a blatant contravention of the teachings which our saints and sages have been passing on from generation to generation. But religion is no longer a means to finding peace with oneself and with one’s surroundings. It has been reduced to becoming a vehicle for death visiting the homes and hearth of people who have done no wrong except opening eyes in the laps of parents who do not subscribe to one regimented thought process or the other.
The manner in which hundreds of innocent Hazaras have been mowed down in the last few months makes a mockery of the Islamic injunctions that we never tire of preaching to the world. What relevance and weight these injunctions carry when our fellow brethren are not safe in our midst, when we bomb their peaceful congregations, when we ambush them in buses and vans and target-kill them to satiate our appetite for blood?
I’ th’ last night’s storm I such a fellow saw,
Which made me think a man a worm. My son
Came then into my mind, and yet my mind
Was then scarce friends with him. I have heard more since.
As flies to wanton boys are we to th’ gods,
They kill us for their sport.
–Shakespeare (King Lear)
The stark failure of the intelligence agencies, the utter ineffectiveness of the security outfits and the condemnable unwillingness of the government/s to address the symptoms and causes of the gory manifestations of violence have rendered this country literally unliveable for its people. Unfortunately, it is the fake proponents of peace garbed as politicians who are, in fact, involved in the detestable act of fanning sectarianism. They do so because they want to make use of these crominal groups to further perpetuate their hold on power forgetting that, in doing so, they are jeopardising the prospect of national survival.
Among other places, the nurseries of this gruesome sectarianism can be traced to the backyards of the government of Punjab. Their alleged links with the Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LeJ) have never been a secret. A senior minister of the provincial cabinet was once shown riding an open vehicle in the company of one of the terrorist masterminds. In a recent article carried by a leading publication that was later removed in haste from their website ostensibly under pressure from the political party, the contours of an alleged understanding between PML-N and Ahle Sunnat wal Jamaat (ASWJ), which formerly operated as Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistan, regarding seat adjustment in South Punjab for the next elections have been outlined. It is worth mentioning here that the alleged terrorist kingpin Malik Ishaq of the banned LeJ who has recently joined ASWJ was given a monthly stipend by the government of Punjab during his internment in Lahore. According to the alleged deal, PML-N will extend support on three seats to the ASWJ candidates in exchange for their support for twelve PML-N candidates in Punjab. Ludhyanvi of ASWJ has allegedly confirmed the talks saying that “both parties could not do without each other and history shows that our voters are willing to see us united”.
It is in such illicit contracts that the saplings of terrorism blossom. There are many faces that the rulers of Punjab have hidden behind that contrived face that they want the world to see. Their traditional predilection to curry religious vote during their election campaigns in exchange for striking mortally dangerous compromises with the proponents of sectarianism is possibly the most fatal of these harrowing occupations. Thanks to WikiLeaks, their behind-closed-doors effort to strike deals with foreign representatives to clip the wings of the burgeoning judiciary is also a matter of record. Paradoxically, they were doing this in the backdrop of the public oath that they had so painstakingly secured from their party candidates to uphold the cause of an independent judiciary. What hypocrisy, what duality, what utter lack of self-respect! They will not stop at anything in their frenzied quest for power. They would even take the devil for their mentor. It is such patrons of violence that people should be wary of if the dream of peace in the country is ever to be realised.
Not that the rest of the political mafias are packs of angels. They, too, have their underbellies which grossly outweigh the cumulative good intentions that they may ever have, intentionally or unintentionally, demonstrated for the country. They, too, would be quick in striking belittling deals to aggrandise personal interests and objectives. They would also willingly embrace terrorists and sectarian linchpins for the sake of expanding their power base. In the process, the Hazaras would continue to get massacred. With dreams of their youth inscribed on their tombstones, they fight for provision of security which is their inalienable right.
The fear syndrome which engulfs the national expanse has already prompted mass exodus of various communities and minorities. In the end, what we’ll be left with are these bands of sectarian war-mongers and terrorist bandits, protected and patronised by political mafias, ruling the streets of the country turning it into a virtual no-go area for its citizens. It appears, the evil is here to stay.
The writer is a political analyst. He can be reached at raoofhasan@hotmail.com