Was it so unacceptable and shocking to read that the “Sindhi Taliban” might have had a hand in the recent attack on the naval dockyard in Karachi? Most Sindhi writers, intellectuals and common people have scowled over this and strongly ruled out any possibility of the involvement of a Sindh chapter of the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP). Maybe they think the word “Taliban” is not meant for Sindhis, who they may consider were never born to be religiously extremist. Some years back, when the term “Punjabi Taliban” was revealed, Punjabis reacted in exactly the same way. Neglecting this possibility just because Sindh is the land of Sufis and mysticism is neither wise nor a cure for this disease. Let us suppose the Sindhi Taliban label is just a conspiracy, but is socio-religious fanaticism not at its height in Sindh? Is infiltration of religious groups not so visible now?
We regularly witness dangerous sectarian, religious and psychological violence in our lives; it is just a matter of how we see it and if we consider it a real ‘threat’ or not. Remember last year, when a mob burnt a man alive in a small village in Sindh over religious beliefs? This should have been a wake-up call for policymakers, especially for the Sindh government and the Sindhis. The people and government in power perhaps thought it a normal incident and that such incidents happen in a religion-dominated society. Some condemnation statements were issued and, after some days, nobody even remembered this tragedy. This indifference led to a series of such incidents when the dead bodies of the Bheel (Dalit Hindu) community were dug out from local graveyards and were thrown away because local clerics declared that Hindu communities could not bury their dead bodies in Muslim graveyards. In January this year, five people were found dead at the Keenjhar Lake shrine of Noori Jam Tamachi and six other decapitated bodies were found near Ayub Shah shrine, Karachi, with a warning note from the banned TTP Fazlullah group.
It does not stop here; another dangerous wave of religious hatred started when some local religious fundamentalists started to target places of Hindu worship, dharamsalas. First they attacked and burnt a temple in Larkana, then in Karachi, Hyderabad, Rohri and Tharparkar. These extremists have started targeting and harassing Hindus and other non-Muslim communities living in Sindh, already a vulnerable segment of our population. Forced conversion, kidnapping for ransom and target killings of Hindhu business community members are already routine headlines of local newspapers.
The objectives of these attacks and incidents are not just to threaten and terrify the Hindus or other minority communities but are visibly planned attacks on the religious harmony of Sindh by banned militant groups. The only province in Pakistan pure of religious extremists is no more the place of peace and harmony it used to be decades ago. Sindh, which was the land of love and Sufi rituals, is facing Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Punjab style religious radicalisation.
Banned religious-militant outfits are operating freely; they have established thousands of religious seminaries that inject ideological jihadism into the minds of the children enrolled. Shockingly, there are no checks and balances on what they are teaching in these seminaries and who is funding them. According to official data on registered seminaries, out of 20,000 seminaries in Pakistan, 5,500 are operating in Sindh. However, senior local journalists and intellectuals think that the number of unregistered seminaries is around 30,000, run by Barelvi, Deobandi, Shia, Ahle Sunnat, Ahle Hadith and other sects. These religious schools and thousands of students being trained will produce Taliban-like jihadists in the coming years, which may pose a serious threat to Sindh.
When Hafiz Saeed visited some cities in January 2014 and later organised huge rallies in Tharparkar district, even the government of Sindh could not stop him. This raises serious concerns of whether the Sindh government has the power and courage to stop the religious and political activities of banned outfits. Liberal secular fronts in Sindh and of nationalist parties have also kept mum on these religious activities and the expansion of such banned organisations.
Currently, there are two kinds of threats to the Sufi land of Sindh. First is the increase of banned outfits in urban and rural areas of Sindh through old and new seminaries. Second is the radicalisation of society in general based on sectarian and anti-humanitarian grounds. Both are equally harmful for the future of Sindh and there is a dire need to counter it at all levels. The government should take action against these extremist quarters and structure a mechanism to review their curriculum and monitor their activities. The Sindh government, secular political parties, nationalist parties and civil society should now stand against this before it is too late.
The writer is a communications specialist in an Islamabad-based organization. He tweets @shafiqsolangi