Killing Muslims: Lahore and Karachi Attacked

Adil Najam

The enemy struck again. Killing Muslims in Lahore and then in Karachi.

In this blog our vocabulary has always been the vocabulary of Pakistan, of Pakistanis and of Pakistaniat. It shall remain so. Yet, today we deliberately choose to use the vocabulary of religion because those who were targeted were targeted because of their faith. The killers were targeting processions  mourning those killed at Karballa. There was nothing ambiguous about the horrific murders of Muslims in Lahore and Karachi. There should be nothing ambiguous about our reaction to it.

The intensity and the frequency of violent intolerance may have escalated, but there is nothing new about the scantimonius self-righteousness that has, for so long, and so consistently, made us our own worst and most enduring enemy: Hum he Qatl ho rahey haiN, hum he Qatl kar rahey haiN.

That both attacks were intended to be much bigger had police and security personnel not intercepted the attackers – one reportedly just 13 years old – is of little consolation to the loved ones of those who died. Including the loved ones of the lowly policemen who gave their lives intercepting these murderers. But it should be yet another moment of reflection for the rest of us. As we wrote in December 2009: “… the Pakistani policeman’s life – very literally – [has become] the only thing between a suicide bomber and his would-be victims.” The Pakistani policeman is not perfect. Nor are we. They represent the same violent schizophrenia that the rest of society does; the same violent schizophrenia that has made their job more violent than any job deserves to be.