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| Pakistan: A country where Muslims are endangered! | | 
By Farooq Ganderbali
Pakistan was a country which once upon a time, at least in the eyes of its founding fathers, was a refuge for Muslims. Wrongly or otherwise, it was touted as a nation for Muslims. But today Pakistan has turned into a country where Muslims are killed ruthlessly, ironically for their belief. The latest killing of 60 Shia devouts praying in an imambara in Shikarpur, Sindh, is one such instance. The Shias were killed by bomb planted by Sunni groups.
This is obviously not the first such attack, nor is it going to be the last. And, this is important, Shias are not only the Muslims who are in danger in Pakistan. Baloch Sunni Muslims have been killed in countless numbers since 1947. Both the civilian and military leaders have been equally guilty of sustaining a ruthless campaign against Balochs, leaving an indigenous people hapless and suspicious of the state which, their leaders in their wisdom in 1947 had chose to adopt.
Pashtun Muslims, again Sunnis, are another lot which has been facing the brunt of the brutal military assault since 2002. Thousands have died in the so-called military operations launched by Pakistan Army, which claims to protect own citizens. The same army also allowed a foreign military, the US Army, to launch Drone strikes in the Pashtun-dominated areas to kill Pashtun tribes people. Today, most of the towns and villages in these areas resemble war-ravaged areas. Several million people have been forced to flee their homes and take refuge in makeshift tents, and wherever they could find shelter.
Sindhi Muslims are the next target. There are increasing reports of Sindhi young men disappearing and end up as dead brutalised bodies on roadsides and ditches.
But it is the attack like the Shikarpur Imambara attacks which tells you the story of today’s Pakistan—a country where more and more Muslims face existential threat than anywhere else in the world! Not that minorities are in any way protected. The minorities—Hindus and Christians—are, and have been, in acute danger for such a long time that the atrocities against them are not even reported in the mainstream media. The killing of Shias, however, goes deep into the rot which is devouring Pakistan.
The Shia killings, which Shias call SLOW GENOCIDE, underscore three vital points about Pakistan. One that both the civilian and military leadership are equally culpable in the killing of their own citizens. Two, the killings show the growth and expansion of Sunni extremist ideology and groups in the country. Three, these events make Pakistan vulnerable to global terrorist groups like al Qaeda and Islamic State.
The state complicity in the killing of Shias has been well documented even by Pakistani journalists and scholars. Even though there has been an inherent bias within the state against Shias and other minorities even at the time of Independence, the divide became sharp after Zia took over the reigns of the country and decided to avenge the insult he faced from the Shia communities when they refused to obey his diktats for transforming the country into a Sunni country. The army actively helped creating the extremist group, Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistan (SSP) and later its armed progeny, Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LeJ), and then when the killings began chose to look the other way.
Over the years, SSP and LeJ became very powerful groups with the active support of political leaders and businessmen funding their activities. The military chose to be an indulgent guardian of such groups which it used to suppress not only Shias but other minority groups, be it religious or ethnic. These groups also came in handy for the army to camouflage their jihadi policies. A large number of LeJ cadres were trained in camps set up by anti-India terrorist groups like Harkat-ul Ansar and Lashkar-e-Tayyeba. Scores of them were also sent to Afghanistan to fight with the Taliban, first against the Soviet troops and then against the US troops after 2001. A significant part of the Afghan Taliban military campaign was filled up by LeJ cadres with the active connivance the army.
The civilian leaders are equally guilty. Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s party is perhaps lists the top. In fact, during the last elections, these groups campaigned openly for Nawaz Sharif and his party. The quid pro quo was protection from any prosecution This is evident even after the Peshawar attacks which spurred the military and the civilian government to lift the moratorium on executions. Several have faced the gallows since then. But most of them were guilty of attacks against the army and ISI. No significant leader of LeJ or SSP has faced death even though many of their leaders have openly admitted killing hundreds of Shias and have been charged with several killings by the police.
The Shikarpur killings have once again showed how Muslims today face grave threat to their life and identity in Pakistan.
(The author is a Freelance Journalist and columnist)
(Opinions expressed in write-ups/articles/Letters are the sole responsibility of the authors and they may not represent the Scoop News)
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