Fine ‘fort of Islam’ Pakistan turned out
Sectarian assassinations, especially those targeting middle class workers, have become so frequent that it is a surprise that any sect, particularly minorities, has many learned individuals left alive. The northern parts of the country are a little more involved in Zarb e Azb than others, which is understandable considering their proximity to fata badlands, but there isn’t enough attention being paid to the sectarian death rattle sounding in the rest of the country – from the twin cities all the way to the port city.
As a nation we have kept quiet about his for far too long. Initially persecuted minorities did raise hue and cry, but the speed with which those demanding justice, too, were ‘eliminated’ made this a short-lived phenomenon. It didn’t help the wronged, of course, that the sectarian tragedy was but a spillover of a far greater game, one which involved the state itself creating and leveraging monstrous proxies who, unfortunately, had a taste for minority blood. And their masters did not think it politic – at the time – to prevent the trend from expanding.
But now we are in a completely different phase of the cycle – blowback. That the Frankenstein turned on the master, too, is in the past. Yet there is an element of denial in the deep state, or so it seems. Granted, the war against terrorism took a giant leap forward when Gen Sharif launched Zarb e Azb, and the decision to ditch the controversial ‘good Taliban’, especially Haqqanis, was all the more appreciated in the country’s forward looking, pragmatic circles. Yet the proof of the pudding lies in its eating. And it seems that while the rug has indeed been pulled from under the feet of many a proxy in the north, those nurtured and trained in our urban centres still enjoy past privileges, including state patronage. That is the principal reason for sectarian killings to continue. With time, this trend will only worsen, with the persecuted also taking up arms – as seems the new trend – and worsening the cycle.
Surely, this is not the fort of Islam that Pakistan was meant to be. How and when exactly did we turn on each other, reducing the other to kafir – shi’a kafir, sunni kafir – with brutal killing the only ‘religious’ recourse, ought to be studied seriously in the wake of the NW operation. Unless Pakistan comes together once again, there will not be much left of the country. It will definitely not be a fort.