“Beneath the armor of
skin, bone and mind most of our colors are amazingly the same.”
Aberjhani,
Repetitive negative depictions of Pakistan are fuelled largely by the many
conflicts that plague our country. Besides lingering tensions with India and the
discontent among provinces, sectarian violence continues to blemish our national
image. Likewise during November, 2013 (Muharram) at Rawalpindi sectarian clashes
that erupted in the garrison-city when a procession coincided with a Friday
sermon at a mosque near Fawara Chowk. Angry protesters attacked the mosque and
seminary, torching its building and an adjacent cloth market causing loss to the
property worth billions of rupees. The sectarian clash that occurred in
Rawalpindi as an Ashura procession was being taken out had dangerous
repercussions across the country, as violence had refused to subside.
Sectarian and ethnic clashes in Pakistan have strengthened its roots and
damaging the foundations of Pakistan. Anyhow, there should be no reason for the
clashes between Shias and Sunnis- Punjabis, Baloch, Sindhis, Pakhtuns Muhajirs
etc. as all the sects and ethnicities were united in their struggle under the
leadership of Quaid-e-Azam to carve out a separate homeland for the Muslims. Now
when Pakistan has threats to its internal and external security, its people
irrespective of religion, caste, creed or sect must unite to save Pakistan.
A redeeming feature is that great majority of Muslims have kept themselves away
from this conflict. However, religious scholars with divergent views and
religions need to play their role to foster tolerance and educate people about
the significance of interfaith and sectarian harmony for maintaining peace and
tranquility while leaders of the two sects need to proceed with great caution to
prevent the events from turning into a wider communal conflict.
Mr Mairaaj ul Huda said:
“Islam has propagated the message of peace, love and harmony for mankind in this
world. Islam speaks about different religion and discusses it but, it does not
allow or support violence, clashes and oppression.”
Islam believes in peace and universal brotherhood and it opposes sectarianism.
As Quran says:
There shall be no compulsion in (acceptance of) the religion.
Surah Al Baqarah: 256
In order to control and eliminate this berated sectarianism and ethnicity it is
necessary that scholars from all school of thoughts should sit together and play
their positive role in promoting peace, harmony and brotherhood. The increase of
hatred on the basis of sectarianism and ethnicity in Pakistan is becoming a
leading source for a lot of causalities and deaths. During the last few years
more than 3500 incidents regarding sectarian violence, ethnicity and target
killing have took place in which more than 4000 died. The mosques and imam
barghas which once use to be a center of peace and harmony have turned into a
battlefield where people get scared of even entering.
Dr Hasan Askari Rizvi writes in an article “Religious extremism and violence”,
“The government cannot contain religious extremism and violence by simply
issuing executive orders. It requires a comprehensive approach that entails
monitoring supporters of the militant groups in the civil and military
administration, curtailing societal sources of support, and strict action
against the hard-core militant elements that use violence. The government must
adopt measures to address socio-economic inequities which have increased during
the last six years.”
Dancing around the first is not the solution to any problem. One should try to
see beneath the surface in order to grasp an idea about the basic issue .Despite
a stream of strong words and announcements and by the government ,various
non-governmental organizations and political institutions, nothing has been done
successfully in order eliminate the either crises in Pakistan .Rather the
situation has taken quantum leap for the worse.
As Mr Ashraf – journalist says:
“The reasons for the blow of sectarian violence are mainly political reasons.
The differences are used for political gains and ends by different countries and
different forces.”
The struggle for Pakistan was a unique historical experience with few parallels
in the annals of history .It transcended ethnic, linguistic, cultural and
regional differences and coalesced into a powerful movement culminating in the
creation of an independent homeland for the Muslims of the sub-continent. It
even defied the geographic compulsions. In essence, it was an experience of a
deep Muslim consciousness which both inspiring and invigorating. However,
Pakistan after its creation was, indeed, and ethnically plural society.
The past five years (2008-13) have been difficult for Balochistan according to
statistics revealed by the home department. Violence in the province has claimed
over 2,100 lives and left 3,845 injured in over 3,232 incidents of bomb blasts
and rocket attacks in this period. Amidst rising sectarian strife and targeted
killings, the government’s inability to deal with the situation appears more
jarring than ever.
Throughout the Baluchistan province, sectarian killings (Shia genocide) remain
the biggest challenge. The Shia community, the Shia Hazaras in particular,
remains the prime target of violent groups in the province.
In this regard, in the recent past, several Islamic scholars (Ulemas) have
issued a joint fatwa (edict), and unanimously declared: “killing of innocent
people, target killings and suicide bombings…in Karachi, Balochistan and Khyber
Pakhtunkhwa along with sectarianism as against the spirit of Islam.” They added
that those involved in the killing of innocent people are condemned to hell.
Their Fatwa also declared, “The suicides attacks and related violence smeared
the name of Islam and weakened Pakistan.
Pakistan also faces an allegation that during 1980s Pakistan suffered a lot of
sectarian and ethnic violence. According to facts and figures from 1989 till the
date 2,407 incidents took place in which 4,504 have been victimized and 8,804
have been wounded. According to the statistical data during the last 11 years
more than 2500 incidents regarding sectarian clashes have been recorded.
On this situation Mr. Abdullah Shah Mazhar said that; “The only way out of these
clashes is that: religious practices should be only bounded in religious places
and literature should be reviewed as well.”
Pakistan is a consociation society where different religious group, races,
creeds are always in conflict with each other on petty issues. There are many
horizontal and vertical cleavages in Pakistan that keep people divided on the
basis of religion, caste, creed, status and language along with everlasting
lacuna between haves and have not’s. These cleavages are not only undermining
Pakistan’s economic system but also causing socio-political instability. In this
age of globalization media has exacerbated the crises and made Pakistan more
vulnerable by disseminating disinformation, besides fabricated and manipulated
stories that present a gloomy picture of the country and stop the foreign
investment. Like other so called political parties and leadership, media is also
working against the national interest of Pakistan. Religious sectarianism is not
a new phenomenon but it is an old saga. To get rid of this it is necessary that
every institution in the country must play their roles within their boundaries
in the society. Analysts say that in eliminating sectarianism and ethnicity
“Tolerance” can play a major role.
Taking note of intensity of terror-assaults, we cannot leave it to law-enforcing
agencies and security forces alone to fight and win this new style war. It has
to be fought collectively by the entire nation. Hence, government, media, courts
and civil society must develop consensus to put up a collective response against
terrorism. Blame game against security agencies by media and ruthless chasing by
courts will simply weaken our cause and terrorists will get encouraged. So,
instead of showing unrealistic approach about security forces in relation to
terrorism-phenomenon and the missing persons, our internal entities must follow
ground realities, as it is a war in which offence knows its target, but defense
does not know.
In Hasan Askari’s words, “The government must adopt measures to address
socio-economic inequities which have increased during the last six years. Unless
poverty and underdevelopment are addressed effectively, ideological appeals and
militancy will continue to attract the alienated youth. The government must also
open up the political system to mainstream and liberal political forces so that
they can help inculcate moderate and tolerant values among the people. Internal
harmony and cultural and political tolerance cannot be promoted without
establishing an equitable socio-economic system and a participatory political
process.”
Qurat-ul-Ain Amjad
M.A Final
University of Karachi