Stoking fires of sectarinism
The spectre of violence continues to raise its ugly head in Balochistan despite the dissolution of the provincial government. The Ahle Sunnat Wal Jamaat (ASWJ)’s claim that seven people were shot in one of their rallies at Liaqat Bazaar to protest alleged target killing of ASWJ clerics by ‘Shia militants’ has added fuel to the sectarian flames that are threatening to run riot in the country. The ASWJ has now taken on the call to call sit-in and strikes and has claimed it will block all major highways from Quetta to Karachi, Jacobabad, Taftan and Afghanistan.
Observers have asked if Sunni extremists are attempting to play ‘victim’ as a country-wide operations continue against the notorious Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LeJ), with over 170 arrested in Balochistan and around 50 of their members arrested in Punjab. ASWJ members have been attacked in Karachi and when senior ASWJ leader in Karachi Aurangzeb Farooqi survived an attempt on his life on December 25 that left six of his bodyguards dead, he sent out a chilling message which has gone viral on social media: “Enemies should listen to this: my task now is Sunni awakening. I will make Sunnis so powerful against Shi’ites that no Sunni will even want to shake hands with a Shi’ite.”
But the fire burning in Balochistan is not just limited to the sectarian divide: six labourers were killed on Sunday while five bodies of missing Baloch have been found over the last week.
Questions are beginning to be asked if the decision to dissolve the provincial government was the most adequate step available. The questions being asked as to the exact nature of the role the intelligence agencies play in Balochistan have gathered steam despite vehement denials on the part of the military’s PR machinery. The Hazara Democratic Party has also made public its objections to the imposition of army rule and condemned the role of the Jamaat Majlis Wahdutul Muslimeen (MWM) for “playing politics over dead bodies”. The Supreme Court’s taking up of the case has revealed more that has disturbed the average citizen as to how, despite a vast intelligence network and specific intel, the Shia Hazara community in Quetta continues to suffer tragedy after tragedy.
Has the time not come to give civilian rule a change again in this beleaguered province? All other actors appear hopelessly doomed in face of the current upsurge in violence in the province.
