Carnage in Quetta

A couple of days ago, in a despicable show of cruelty,  a water tanker full of ammonium nitrate apparently manufactured from fertilizers was driven to the heart of Hazara town, a district of Quetta city and exploded by remote control killing 89 people and injuring hundreds. This is the second bomb attack on that community within a month. The earlier attack had also killed over a hundred people and had resulted in the sacking of chief minister and suspension of the of Baluchistan parliament on public demand. The Hazaras are an ethnic minority of Baluchistan with their own language and are Shiite Muslims by faith. There is a history of their persecution by the predominant Baluchis, but the recent wave is outrageous by all proportions.

It has been reported that the outlawed Islamic legionnaires called Lashkar-e-Jangvi have taken responsibility for the attacks. The LJ is a group of the followers of Indian religious institution at Deoband.  There is talk of the Americans trying to sabotage the Iran-Pakistan gas pipeline by annoying the Iranis as a result of Shia killings. There is also talk of a proxy war between Saudi (Sunni) and Iranian (Shiite) intelligence agencies in Baluchistan. However, calling the Hazara massacres mere sectarian violence raises a few questions. The leadership of the ruling People’s Party in Pakistan is predominantly Shiite, but it has shown deplorable apathy on the issue presumably because there is no money to be made in this business. Similarly the Aghakhanis are also Shiite and present in significant numbers in Pakistan but have not been attacked. And last but not the least, the LJ has never stated its objective or motivation for a genocide of the Shiite Hazaras.

 

The Shia-Sunni divide is really a historic misunderstanding created by historians describing Imam Abu Bakr, Imam Omar and Imam Uthman as Khalifas meaning heirs to the Prophet and Emirs meaning princes.

 

In the present circumstances, the possibility of political motivation cannot be ruled out. There seem to be a number of political and religious groups who would like to abort the coming general elections. During the past few months I have heard at least two sermons condemning democracy and elections as ‘dajjal’ or the enemy of faith. The suddenly descended Canadian based Islamic evangelist Tahirul Qadri has done his utmost to throw a spanner in the election works. The Indians would love to see the elections aborted or military intervention as it will give them material to malign Pakistan. Many believe that the People’s Party would like to have the elections delayed as long as possible as they are certain to lose it and there could be serious consequences for its corrupt leaders in the aftermath. It is interesting that in all its three stints in power the PP has never handed over power to an elected government. Mr. Bhutto after a term and half tried to rig the elections and created a situation that brought the army in power. Benazir Bhutto in both her subsequent terms managed to get her government sacked on corruption charges by presidents appointed by herself.

 

All said and done, the fact remains that sanctity of human life is being grossly violated and people are being unscrupulously and brutally slaughtered in premeditated attacks. This is a crime against humanity and must be stopped at any cost. If the Hazaras are not strong enough to protect themselves, it is the duty of all of us to protect them.