Shia killings in Pakistan; who is the beneficiary

Three suicide bombers targeted a mourning procession made up of thousands of faithful Muslims on last Wednesday at the moment of the breaking of the fast in the holy month of Ramazan . The procession on the occasion of Martyrdom of fourth rightly guided caliph of Islam, Ali ibne Abi Taleb (a), was arranged by Shia Muslims in Lahore. The other target was a rally in connection with the international Quds day apparently a Sunni cause -though arranged by their Shia brethren in Quetta, albeit most of the killed are Shia Muslims if not all.
Essentially started in early 80s under the hard-line military dictator Zia, the phenomena of Shia killings have evolved into such a lethal paradigm that for the last couple of years no big event like Ashora and Arbaeen, have escaped the calamity. It’s imperative to note here that in reference to the martyrdom of grandson of Prophet of Islam(s), these events are equally sacred to both Sunni and Shia Muslims. Though largely arranged by Shias, throngs of Sunnis have been attending these occasions with religious zeal and fervour. In fact last year’s attack on mourning procession in Karachi saw martyrdom of some Sunnis along with mostly Shias.
1979 saw two major developments in Pakistan’s neighbourhood, whereby Islamic revolution in Iran overpowered a 37 years reign of American backed monarch and soviet forces invaded Afghanistan in pretext of curbing rebellion from local mujahedeen. Americans badly humiliated in Vietnam desperately wanted another showdown with the soviets and also didn’t want Russia to control Middle East through the landlocked but important territory of Afghanistan.
Saudi Arabia was given the gigantic task of gathering jihadists from all over the world. The extremist scholars such as Muhammad Nasiruddin al-Albani, Muhammad ibn al Uthaymeen, Abd al-Aziz ibn Abd Allah ibn Baaz and Abdul-Azeez ibn Abdullaah Aal ash-Shaikh were blessed with resources and abundant authorities to help converge jihadists in Afghanistan.
Pakistan was declared as nourishing ground and base camp for the “believers”. Tens of thousands of mudrassahs for the invocation of extremist ideology mushroomed all over Pakistan, especially in Khaybar-Pkhtunkhwa and south Punjab. Like many, hardliner cleric Abdullah of Lal Masjid Islamabad was given special decree by then Military dictator Zia, who in turn made lal Masjid a hub for jihadist activities during Afghan war of 1979.
All these violent jihadists shared a common belief; they were opposed to democracy and Shia rule, describes Mohammad Hafez. Although at that times there was no democracy in Pakistan but there were significant number of shias awakened by proximity of the Islamic revolution in Iran. When Zia tried to implement zakat law according to Hanfi description of Islam, Shia Muslims requested the government to treat them according to the Ja’afari description of Islam, which was rejected and was only accepted after show of power by Shias in Islamabad. The dictatorial establishment was alarmed and sought the way to teach lesson to Shias. The Salafis and extremist Wahabis tailor made for afghan jihad were unleashed and given free hand to curb any sign of awakening among Shia Muslims.
Since then scores of intellectuals, doctors, government officials and scholars belonging to Shia sect have been killed in Pakistan. Sipah e Mohammad was a Shia response to the supremacist Sipah e Sahaba in early 90s, and was effectively able to minimize the atrocities against Shia Muslims, using similar tactics against the Pro-Sipah e Sahaba targets. The organisation was banned by Musharraf regime in early 2000s and is reportedly a defunct organisation.
After the Soviet withdrawal in 1989, and its collapse in 1991, Americans left the scene and Afghanistan yet again fell into a civil war between warlords. Eventually Taliban emerged as the convincing force and formed government in Afghanistan courtesy Benazir’s second government but overthrown in 2001. Americans once again invaded Afghanistan in the pretext of war on terrorism but this time against their own siblings whom they created against soviets.
Hillary Clinton acknowledged exactly this in an appearance before the House Appropriations Committee in late April, 2009. She stated:
“Let’s remember here… the people we are fighting today we funded them twenty years ago… and we did it because we were locked in a struggle with the Soviet Union. They invaded Afghanistan… and we did not want to see them control Central Asia and we went to work… and it was President Reagan in partnership with Congress led by Democrats who said you know what it sounds like a pretty good idea… let’s deal with the ISI and the Pakistan military and let’s go recruit these mujahedeen. And great, let them come from Saudi Arabia and other countries, importing their Wahhabi brand of Islam so that we can go beat the Soviet Union. And guess what … they (Soviets) retreated … they lost billions of dollars and it led to the collapse of the Soviet Union. So there is a very strong argument which is… it wasn’t a bad investment in terms of Soviet Union but let’s be careful with what we sow… because we will harvest.”
Pakistan was forced to divorce their beloveds-the Taliban. Having enjoyed the strategic depth hence upper hand in the region with hostile neighbourhood like India, it was difficult for both Pakistan and Taliban-resulting in many splinter groups.
In brief these groups are now either controlled by Pakistan, Americans and Indian agencies through Alqaeda and Saudi Arabia-a chief source of Wahabi-Salafi extremist ideology. Whether controlled by any agency or not they are united in one agenda that they are hell bent on killing Shia Muslims. This agenda is not new for them as they under the Saudi umbrella have been cooperating Israel in their wars against Hisballah and HAMAS, only because Iran supports them, even though HAMAS is a Sunni group.
Anyway this is the first time that a rally for the broader objectives of Muslim Ummah has been ruthlessly destroyed in Pakistan. Although more than 70 people got martyred but they have unveiled the Taliban’s allegiance for their Zionist masters.
Unfortunately there’s no signal of vigilance in political camps of Pakistan as comrades of Tehrik-i-Taliban are enjoying royal decrees especially from the PML-N’s government of Punjab. It’s imperative to note here that PML-N was primitively made to materialise the incomplete hegemonic dreams of Zia regime. PPP’s central government’s statements are also merely rhetoric as no concrete step has been taken against the already convicted terrorists; neither any serious move has been taken to break the three year siege of Parachinar the Ghaza of Pakistan.
It is time that Pakistan’s politicians realised that there is no room here for playing politics, for the opposition scoring points at the expense of the government and vice versa. The enemy here is common and open to all and it cannot be tackled effectively without a united front. Much is made of weak judicial system, intelligence failures and the will to fight against terrorism.
Pakistani nation demand a swift and an honest actions against the terrorists who have demonstrated through massacres at Data Darbar , Karbala Gamay Shah Lahore and now in Quds rally Quetta, that they are neither friends of Pakistan nor of Muslims. Any non serious move from government will send a signal that they are complicit in seeing people at daggers drawn.
© Islam Times