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.
Your headline gives the impression that it is wrong to kill Muslims, ok, nothing wrong with saying that. But it may also mean that killing non-Muslims is acceptable, well it is not. That is like saying, ‘How could you kill him, he was a Muslim?’, thereby giving the impression it would be right to kill if the person is not a Muslim. Can we not teach our people that ALL killing is wrong, not just killing Muslims.
I worry that we are losing our country day by day and there is nothing that we can do about it, even when we try.
This is not muslims killing muslims. This is the enemies of humanity, not even Islam, killing muslims. Those who do these attacks are animals. Nothing more.
Some comment from the ATP Facebook Page:
– “Police is indeed our FIRST line of defense against these extremists!! I salute them for putting their lives on the line in order to protect my family’s!!”
– “Billion THANKS and salutes to them!!!”
– “We standup in respect of those who gave their lifes for Pakistan”
– “just yesterday ..they saved hundreds in Lahore.”
Some comment from the ATP Facebook Page:
– “extremist sunni islam is behind these suicide attacks. we are all thinking it. I am saying it. zia ul haq: may his soul be deprived of peace. may his family suffer a thousand deaths.”
– “I dont understand this thing. The majority Sunni population of Pakistan is such an oppressed group. They murder everything non-sunni they find and when its about being responsible, they’re like…why are you blaming me..WE didnt do it. It was just a handful of people who use our name”
– “Ali, some so-called Sunni was probably behind this, but by condemning all Sunnis as extremists you have just done exactly what that terrorist did to Shias!”