by Adnan Muzaffar, United Kingdom
On Tuesday 12th of May we saw yet another heinous act of mass murder being carried out in Pakistan in the name of Islam. This time it was in the port city of Karachi. At approximately 9:30 am six gunmen chased a bus carrying Ismaili Muslims (a Shia Muslim sect) and started firing on it in broad daylight. After the bus came to a stop the assailants entered and started to shoot men, women and children indiscriminately. It is reported that 45 people lost their lives with 13 wounded.
Jundullah, a splinter group of Al Qaida, has reportedly taken responsibility for the attack. The group has also recently pledged allegiance to ISIS.
For most people these events will cause much distress and sadness, and rightly so. However in some ways what is even more depressing is knowing that despite these horrors not much is likely to change in Pakistan. The media will cover this story for a few days and then it will be forgotten and logged in the annals of history as just another mass murder of a religious group in Pakistan. How many can recall the recent massacres of Shia Muslims, for example the 2013 bombing in Quetta which killed over 100 people, the blasts in Parachinar which killed 60 or the Shia pilgrims killings in 2014? These are just a few recent incidents of the persecution of Shia Muslims in Pakistan, and if we add to this list the persecution of Ahmadi Muslims and Christians, then this list may go on forever.
We see the customary condemnation from government officials and political parties (though even then not all incidents are deemed worthy of their condemnation) however evidently no real change has been achieved; rather the problem is getting worse by the day and it will continue to do so until the Pakistani Government and society as a whole tackles the root causes of sectarian violence. Pakistani media and society readily criticise the politicians however there is a general lack of courage to criticise and hold to account the religious fanatics and mullahs who openly advocate for the persecution and killing of smaller religious groups. The individuals who indoctrinate these terrorists must be prosecuted to show that hatred, violence and murder is not acceptable to Pakistan.
Then there is the wider group of sympathisers or individuals who turn a blind eye to such events as they may already harbour hatred and enmity towards Shias, Ahmadis, Christians or other religious groups. Without this wider pool of support it would be very difficult for Mullahs and other hate preachers to openly call for the persecution of minorities. The media and the educational institutions of Pakistan have a huge role to play to counter such attitudes.
Lastly the government must stop pandering to these extremists and adopt a zero tolerance attitude towards such hate preachers. The draconian blasphemy laws and Ordinance XX which make it illegal for Ahmadi Muslims to refer to themselves as Muslims or use Islamic phrases such as Assalamo Alaikum, must be repealed. Such laws act to legitimise the hate spread by certain Mullahs and have opened a Pandora’s Box which the government now is either too scared or too weak to close. Shia Muslims account for approximately 20% of Pakistanis and calls are already being made to outlaw them as non Muslims. If measures are not taken to curb this hatred, sectarian violence will only grow and it will not remain limited to small groups but will rather affect the whole of Pakistan. This issue is not about the future of any religious group, but is ultimately about the future survival of Pakistan itself.