Violence on Shia processions is not a new phenomenon. But just because a religious minority has been under the knife for a long, long time neither makes it right nor exonerated. It is for this reason only that over 30 charged for attacking a Chehlum procession in Sialkot should be handed the harshest possible punishments. Because letting the law take its course, no matter who among the mighty and the wealthy picks up their phone and turns the screws on the local enforcement agencies remains the only–slim–hope for our return to normalcy. There were reports of as many as 13 injured as a result of an orchestrated attack of clubs and gunfire. Quite as expected, videos circulating on social media have been picked up by media outlets of our not-so-friendly neighbours to be used as a perfect guise for their own share of state-sanctioned criminal activities against religious minorities.
But petty agendas aside, the grim situation of Shias cannot and should not be ignored any longer. Constituting about 20 per cent of the population, they remain the chief victim of sectarian violence, which has seen an alarming uptick in the years gone by. It was only in March that a gruesome bombing inside a mosque in Peshawar left 190 wounded and at least 56 people dead, leaving many to wonder whether the “genocide” was about to enter its last act. May it be due to the banding together of militant wings of extremist organisations when it comes to unleashing their full force upon the common enemy or the widespread negative perception, that sectarian strife continues in all its glory. The most disturbing aspect of all is the broad reach of such problematic, bigoted beliefs, the intensity of which remains unfazed no matter how educated the masses may be. Those who rallied in favour of slain governor Salman Taseer’s murderer included lawyers and members of the civil society. Their education or social standing had no effect whatsoever on changing their perception of a particular group of people.
The Shia community has routinely pointed fingers at the state’s appetite for sect-based discrimination. Amid reservations about the security of their premises, the failure of police to act on death threats and overall impunity enjoyed by those who like to dabble in sectarian bloodshed, there is no shortage of failed expectations and hollow promises to a grieving community who hardly gets attention by the movers and shakers. As already warned by the International Crisis Group, a local Islamic State franchise is fast making inroads into the mainland, drawing on the support of Tehreek-e-Labaik Pakistan: both of which are known for committing the most egregious acts of sectarian violence. Islamabad does not have long before we slide back to the horrors of the past. The clock is ticking faster than ever before. *