Killing of Hazaras in Quetta

This is Anees-ul-Mehdi and he studied with me at Muhammad Ali Jinnah University, Karachi campus. He is a Hazara Shia, which means his ancestors are originally from Bamiyan, Afghanistan and they emigrated to Pakistan long ago amidst Pashtuns (also referred to as Pathans) in the heart of Quetta, provincial capital of Balochistan. Anees was one of the most brilliant students of our university and he could have been anywhere. His father was a prominent worker for some International agency and he was quite well-off, much better than most Hazaras and certainly better than most Pashtuns and Baloch living in the province. Like many Hazaras, however, he had come to Karachi for studies as environment in his native Quetta was very hostile for them. He used to inform me quite frequently how they hate Sunni-Pashtuns just like Shia-Hazaras were hated by them. Once - and I recall this from memory of over 8 years old - he even told me that even his dog won't speak Pashtu, the lingua franca of Pashtuns. Such hatred was not imaginable for a person like me born and bred in metropolitan Karachi but it was quite common there.

As I grew up and travelled across Pakistan I could see very clearly that Pakistan was (and still is) full of fissures. You go to Gilgit, for instance, and you will find Shias abusing Sunnis and vice versa. Recent violencep has once again brought that to the fore. Same thing is happening in Quetta where every day 6-7 Hazara-Shias are being gunned down in broad daylight. I cannot imagine that anyone could carry machine gun in a garrison town like Quetta, but that is exactly what is happening there.

Let us now first look at why this may be happening. And why across Pakistan?

Firstly, Pakistani Army had stopped NATO containers, atleast publicly, to show its anger for killing over 30 Pakistani soldiers from across Afghanistan in an air strike. We all know that much of aid for our ghairat-mand Army comes directly from US and there is no way our Army can deny this. But if you go around abusing your chief, like Pakistani public and Army are doing right now, US will surely retaliate. We know that there are hundreds of CIA agents roaming in Pakistan, supplying arms and dollars, creating un-rest and dissent in this country. I am sure this killings of Shias across Pakistan is part of a larger game being played by CIA agents to force Pakistan into accepting its conditions. Otherwise this could go on and on. First, we saw bombings across Karachi and later in many other cities. Now killings of Shias, first at KKH, then at Gilgit and now in Quetta. And possibly next targets would be smaller cities in Sindh, then Lahore and Karachi.

Pakistan has repeatedly refused to obey American demands to support its war beat against Iran. By killing Shias, and hence by shifting their loyalties towards Iran, CIA-backed Wahabbi-Pashtun militants in Quetta and in Chilas are hoping to divide our nation once again to break the stance of our civilian as well as military leadership. Already before the Siachen fiasco there were reports emanating from the Shia-dominated NLI 6 (unit of Pakistan Army for Northern borders) that if any action against killers of Shias in Chilas was not taken, they would march towards India (sic) and become part of them (sic). Thanks to ALLAH then that glacier melted, caused avalanche - although experts now believe that it wasn't an avalanche - and our borders with India were saved (assuming that many of those soldiers were preparing to march towards India to become part of that country).

I hope against hope, just like founders of this ethnically explosive country, that we can still resist CIA and MI6 and RAW agencies and pull up unity. That is only possible if our government and our officers can save precious lives, not only of majority Sunnis but also of minority groups living in Pakistan including Hindus and Shias.