Adil Najam
Shia processions in Lahore and Karachi – commemorating the martyrdom of Hazrat Ali (RA) – were attacked. In Karachi seven people were left injured. In Lahore 18 were killed, 190 injured. The suicide attack on the Lahore procession triggered panic, mayhem, and further clashes. Sectarian tensions, already high as a result of a series of orchestrated attacks against Shia targets, have been further flared by these inhuman and murderous attacks.
Once again, my hands are trembling as I type this post. With rage. With anger. With anguish. I have no words that can console the wounds of those who have fallen. No words to explain the horror that has, yet again, transpired. No words to express the angst that tears at my heart – wanting so badly, needing so desperately, for this madness to stop.
I have chosen the two pictures above for a reason. The first is of what seems like a young boy, wounded and bleeding, in Lahore. The second is of two suspected gunmen who had allegedly opened fire in Karachi. The first is a representation of the anguish I feel. the second of the anger I seethe in.
I do not believe in vigilantism. But I do believe in justice. (How could I not with the name I have?). I do not know how the rot that has taken root can be stemmed, but this I know: law and justice will have to be a large part of what happens. The rate at which killers and would-be-killers are prosecuted and brought to justice has to exceed the rate at which they blow themselves up.
Why is it that we keep having to write these horrendous and gut-wrenching posts about attacks on Pakistanis; again, and again, and yet again. Yet, we do not write posts about the killers and murderers who are doing this and planning this being brought to justice? We would like nothing more than to be able to do so. Believe me, we have tried. We scour the newspapers to find news of these killers and their puppet-masters being brought to justice. But we do not find them.
We realize that it is not easy to prove such cases. But that should only mean that we need to try harder. Pakistan is at war, and the course of this war will change when the narrative changes from stories about helplessness at these constant attacks and killings to narratives of ‘getting’ those responsible for this. That means that law enforcement – the police and the judiciary – has to be at the heart of this battle. Not only in reducing the number of such incidents, but also in bringing culprits to justice.
And that is why I have included that second picture. I want to know who these two men behind the chadors are. I do not want them to be lynched. I do want them to get a fair hearing. But I also want to make sure that if they are indeed the culprits then they are brought to justice. I want to hear about how they are tried. I want to know how our judges judge them.
And if that does not happen, then I want to know why the police was not able to make a case against them, why the judges were not able to swiftly bring them to trial and judgment, and why our self-important media did not make all the fuss about this that that are so good at making on so many other things.
I think hate-monger is not the correct word since hate has nothing to do with it, however you can call it war-mongering.
Since Bush left the Neo-cons have left with him from US establishments. They are replaced by Obama and War-Hawks like Zbigniew Brzezinski. You shold read his book “THE GRAND CHESSBOARD – American Primacy And It’s Geostrategic Imperatives,” Zbigniew Brzezinski, Basic Books, 1997.
Check out the video by US journalist: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x0HjVMSBai0&feature =youtu.be or read his article http://www.fromthewilderness.com/free/ww3/zbig.htm l .
I don’t know why almost all of the local media and blogs fail to see beyond the facade of some people conducting illegal warfare in the name of Islam and real enemies the US policy makers like Hillary Clniton & Zbigniew Brzezinski who endorsed Obama. As a nation we are afraid of what America might do if we expose their filthy policies. Unless we grow backbones our fellow Pakistanis will be killed in same manner and we can do all the talks shows and blog posts we like but it won’t solve this mess.
@Ibne Ali
your quote : “i have never felt any sympathy for shias…a religion based on bugz, keena, jhoot, shirk…”
You engage in plenty of slander and demeaning of Shias, yourself, so your case in one of pot calling the kettle black.
A suicide bomber who really deeply believes that he is going to heaven to get 72 beautiful girls cannot be stopped.
Only if somebody could make him NOT believe in this obvious fraud called religion. Only if he could see our insignificance in the vastness of this universe that is 13.5 billion years old, and only if he could realize that his God was not sleeping all this time only to wake up two thousand years ago to write that so called holy book.
The heart keeps sinking in…
The only solution that I propose: All Pakistani American, who have retired and on SS should go back to Pakistan in group of 5 or more, and establish a support system for Justice and Peace. All organization are corrupt. No one has trust in either Police , Government, or even Army. We with the help of Media give Voice to Good nature Pakistani, and create a Foundation for a real revolution. Do I have some Volunteer to go with me.