Daily Times

Pakistan is becoming a blend of hope and despair. On the one side, the democratic future seems bright, while on the other the ethnic and sectarian future seems ominous. Generally, both ongoing ethnic and sectarian conflicts are due to different reasons and their incidents take place separately from each other. However, Karachi and Quetta are the places where both ethnic and sectarian conflicts have converged.

On January 10, in a snooker club situated on Alamdar Road, Quetta, more than 80 people belonging to the Hazara community were killed by two bomb blasts. The Hazaras are Persian-speaking Shia and have resided in Balochistan for more than 100 years. Despite that, the Hazaras are still considered settlers in Balochistan. Most Hazaras are now fleeing Pakistan and taking refuge in Australia to save their lives. On January 17, an MQM MPA, Manzar Imam, was gunned down in Karachi. He was elected from the Orangi Town constituency after the assassination of another MQM MPA, Raza Haider, on sectarian grounds in August 2010. In the sectarian context, Imam was a Sunni and, perhaps, owing to his name, he was mistaken for a Shia. The Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) claimed responsibility for both the attacks. Pakistanis who think that there is no relationship between Pakistan’s drift from the August 11, 1947, speech of the Quaid-e-Azam and these incidents should think again.

The Cold War afforded Pakistan an opportunity for raising the bogey of Communism to keep its divergent groups and communities united in the name of either religion or nationalism. With the collapse of the geopolitical order resting on the Cold War, Pakistan has been being sucked into a new reality where the economy is taking precedence over the rest of the factors. Consequently, the grip of religion or nationalism to paper over differences existing between divergent communities is loosening fast. The past 20 years are also a witness to a new kind of phenomenon in Pakistan. On the one hand, democracy is evolving (after undergoing the selection and rejection process), and on the other, societal fractures along ethnic and sectarian lines are surfacing too.

It is apparent that the ethnic conflict in Pakistan is rooted in economic reasons. The two incidents indicate that the ethnic conflict is being articulated in sectarian terms. That is, the Pashtun-Muhajir conflict in Karachi — which is embedded in economic reasons — has been expressed in ethnic terms. Moreover, the Taliban-Shia conflict — which is actually embedded in ethnic reasons — has been expressed in sectarian terms. The trend indicates that a Shia Muhajir is facing more chances of extinction at the hands of the Taliban than a Sunni Muhajir. Similarly, in Quetta, a Hazara Shia is faced with more challenges of survival at the hands of the Taliban than a non-Hazara Shia and by extension, a non-Hazara Shia is facing more challenges of survival than a non-Hazara non-Shia.

One can say that economic reasons perpetuated the ethnic conflict that has now been compounded by the entry of the sectarian factor. In Karachi, the ethnic conflict has already given birth to the ‘gated communities’; what societal response the ushering in of the sectarian factor in the ethnic sphere produces is yet to be seen.

Talibanisation cannot spread its tentacles unless the members of society are tolerant of it. Apparently, the conflict of Muhajirs with both the Pashtun and Sindhis is the cause of Muhajirs’ seclusion and their consequent predicament. In principle, the Muhajir community should not have selected a local bodies system (for the urban areas that are under its sway) different from the local bodies system practised in rural Sindh. The acquiescence of the Central government to the MQM demands is also responsible for this problem.

In regard to the local bodies system, the MQM has acted more as an ethnic party that just wants to protect the economic interests of its overwhelmingly Urdu-speaking members, residing mostly in urban Sindh, than a political party that can watch the economic interests of all ethnic denominations and can win elections in rural Sindh as well. Certainly, the Muhajir community has opted for a self-imposed isolation. Further, the acts of the MQM have rekindled Sindhi nationalism. It may not be difficult for the Taliban to prey on the consequent hatred being nursed in the hearts of the non-Urdu speaking ethnic communities inhabiting Karachi (and urban Sindh). Secondly, the acts of the MQM must have made the Baloch nationalists apprehensive of the future of Gwadar and the role of the settlers in Balochistan.

Whether it is Sindh or Balochistan, the underlying reason of conflict is economic. The process of the integration of the world electronically (called globalisation) has made several areas contest their local position at the global level. Globalisation has made ethnic identities or local groups more conscious of their economic means. Ethnic groups tend to tie the financial wealth (which they own) to the global economy and calculate their financial gains or losses in international currencies. In certain areas of Pakistan, ethnic nationalism is feeding on the calculation that the state of Pakistan is not paying the price for the natural resources (which belong to ethnic minorities) that is expected to be paid by the international buyers. That is why the past 20 years have witnessed an adverse qualitative shift in the character of both the ethnic and sectarian orientation of Pakistanis.

The question is whether the democratic future can dwarf the ethnic and sectarian future of Pakistan. The stunted growth of the political sector is making it difficult for democracy to catch up with the gravity of ethnicity and sectarianism. Secondly, globalisation is exerting an unavoidable influence on Pakistani society by leaving little room for the economic integration of its diverse communities.

The forthcoming elections are going to be very important in determining the future of Pakistan to see if, in the next five years, democracy overtakes the menace of ethnicity and sectarianism or not.

The writer is a freelance columnist and can be reached at qaisarrashid@yahoo.com