How unfortunate

Another gem of Rehman Malik

“Wives and girlfriends have killed more than target killers in Karachi.”

“A degree is a degree whether original or fake.”

While I was still trying to decide which of these two statements was more nonsensical, Rehman Malik took in a deep breath and leaped into the finish line when he said last week that there is ‘no sectarian friction in Pakistan’. Our beloved chief minister stood no chance.

In response to this ridiculous statement, a senior Shia leader of Punjab called Rehman Malik ‘stupid and an idiot’. I, however, disagree with these remarks. Rehman Malik has proved that he is something much more than that.

Our interior minister will very easily see a ‘foreign hand’ in the blasts of Karachi and Rawalpindi that shook the country this week, but then again, if Zulfiqar Mirza is to be believed, Malik sahib does not even know the difference between an apple and a banana.

Here I would like to help Rehman Malik to recall that official figures, despite all the tampering, indicate that 6,000 people have been killed whereas 8,000 injured in the 1,100 plus incidents of sectarian violence between 1990 and 2012. In reality, more than a couple of thousand of Shias have been killed in Parachinar and Gilgit-Baltisan alone during this time.

Although the schism began over succession after the death our Holy Prophet (PBUH) in 632 AD, sectarianism in Pakistan dates back to Imam Khomeini’s successful revolution in Iran and the setup of a Shia state. This inspired the Pakistani Shias and they formed the Tehreek-e-Nifaz-Fiqah-Jafaria (TNFJ), the first sectarian organisation of Pakistan which demanded rights for the Shia minority. The TNFZ later gave rise to the Tehrik-e-Jafria which now runs under the name of Tehreek-e-Islami under Allama Sajid Naqvi.

The Deobandi Sunni Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistan (SSP), which was established to counter the TNFJ, was persuaded by the Pakistani establishment to give up militancy in 1990. The SSP agreed. However, by then Maulana Haq Nawaz Jhangvi had been assassinated and the blame lay on the Shias. Hence, there emerged a splinter group, Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, named after its ‘martyr’, with the sole objective to kill Shias.

A splinter group of the TNFJ, Sipah-e-Muhammad Pakistan (SMP), also appeared on the scene in order to counter the attacks of LeJ. These two militant groups gave rise to a vicious cycle of sectarian attacks across the country which saw the murder of Irani diplomat Sadiq Ganji at the Ambassador Hotel, Lahore, the murder of Iranian Air Force cadet in Rawalpindi, the nine-day communal war in Parachinar (1996), the Mominpura Graveyard Massacre (1998), the murder of Maulan Azam Tariq and many other clashes in the late 90’s. The number of Shias killed became nothing more than statistics for the people.

However, the worst was yet to come. What the Shia’s failed to realise was that an even deadlier enemy was being bred across the border on the instructions of Zia-ul-Haq and with the money of the Reagan administration and an oil rich Sunni country of the Middle East. The Taliban in Afghanistan, after driving out the Soviets, turned against their own masters. The US, who had failed to foresee this, had to pay for their short-sightedness with the 9/11 attacks. Soon, our once beloved Muslim brethren across the border became one of our deadliest enemies. The Taliban hatred for Shias grew when they were blamed for helping the Americans and the Northern Alliance in overthrowing the Taliban regime in Afghanistan. They were more than just ‘kafirs’ now.

Around 8,000 Pakistani militants have trained and fought alongside the Taliban since 1994, and they now form a hardcore militia of Islamic activists, ever ready to carry out attacks on the Shias. It is they who are responsible for the cold-blooded killings of Hazara Shias and for attacks on imambargahs across the country.

Unlike the Shia outfits, the Taliban were well-financed, well-trained, better armed and had a resource pool of recruits in thousands of madaris across Pakistan. Moreover, the recent economic sanctions imposed on an oil-rich Shia Gulf state further weakened them. The Taliban targeted imambargahs in Quetta (2003, 2004), Sialkot (2005), Fatehpur (2005), Kurram (2008), Chakwal (2009), Lahore (2010) and in many other cities across the country killing hundreds of Shias every year.

Furthermore, these attacks were not confined against the Shia community only; they burnt down Christian colonies, murdered Benazir Bhutto, assassinated Shahbaz Bhatti and attacked mausoleums of Sufi saints and political gatherings (except those of MQM) across the country.

Whether our interior minister is in denial, or whether he can’t even comprehend situation, the reality is that thousands of Pakistani Shias have died in sectarian violence and Pakistan has become a relocated battlefield for the Shia-Sunni violence of the Gulf. Moreover, Pakistan and Iraq are the only countries in the world where 66 percent of the suicide bombings are sectarian related. It is a pity that the Shias cannot mourn in peace. It is a pity that they are being killed just for the fact that they exist. It is a pity that Rehman Malik is still our interior minister.

The writer is a staff member at Pakistan Today.