(Full text) I am a Hazara--Thank God I am alive esp. b/c a lot of my schoolmates are not alive to see this day- the day that people are demonstrating against the Taliban in front of the Red Mosque. If you have had to deal with the horror of 12-16-14 let me remind you I have had to deal with a horror for 16 years. I was 12, it was 1998-- news was filtering in that in Mazar-i-Sharif, in Bamiyan, 2000 Hazaras had been slaughtered by the Taliban. And when that news came in, in this city (Islamabad)-- and all across Pakistani cities people were celebrating -- people were saying that now the Jihad was finally victorious. PTV was announcing that the Northern Alliance had been decimated, consigned to the fires of hell--(cries of Shame). And it has taken 16 years to take count and pick up the bodies and finally reach this point in time-- this realization that most Pakistanis are reaching the same conclusion as me-- that those were not holy warriors, they were simply hired mercenaries. They were beguiled and tricked. In Bamiyan and Mazar-i-Sharif the unburied corpses were devoured for days by wild beasts-- and Pakistan was busy celebrating its policy of Strategic Depth (cries of Shame). Maulana Niazi on the record, in a mosque in Mzar-i-Sharif announced that the Shias had but three options 1)convert to the One True Faith 2)Decide that they are non-Muslims and pay a Jizya Tax 3)Prepare to Die. If the Pak Army was 700,000 strong why did they need to arm 10 year olds, these kids whose parents had sent them to get an education and read Scripture?-- we made them killers instead. We stole their education, their dreams, their futures, their lives, we made them suicide bombers instead. Friends, I realized this in 1998 because I was a Hazara, because I was a Shia. Just as it is human nature to point fingers at others and fail @self introspection - the same way back then the first people to notice these errors in judgment of the extremists were the minorities-- they were identified as a silent epidemic yet the majority stayed quiet. In 1973, a sincere community, the Ahmedis were declared non-Muslim- and even the Shias held their peace. We kept thinking if we met them half way theyd back down. No matter what kind of a person, Prime Minister Bhutto was, he thought if he declared them non-Muslim, threw the Jamaat-i-Islami a bone it would appease them. I want to say today with the utmost conviction the more we bend over backwards, the more theyll rule our lives. Theyll take over our public spaces, theyve already taken over our mosques; they rule the streets and they clamor for more-- today is the day we take it back. Kissinger once said to Iran you have to decide if you wish to be a Nation or a cause. I ask Pakistanis today: are we a nation for ourselves or are we a cause -- simply puppets to be directed by a marionette-- are we going to give our children a future instead of condemning them to fight others wars in Afghanistan, in Chechnya, in Kashmir and in Palestine? As a majority it is our obligation to pause and reflect how we came to be one. Jinnah in 1947 made us a majority with our own State. Pakistans current crisis is a moral one-- Pakistan was created on a premise-- to protect the Muslim minority in India - for we were once a minority. Now that we are no longer a minority it is incumbent upon us to protect minorities-- by an extension of that premise, as a logical extension. We have to understand one thing: if we desire peace in our country then all Pakistanis have to be equals-- whether his name is Joseph, Adarsh, Krishna, Haider, Naqvi or Osama--whether he belong to the Ahl--i-Hadis, the Barelvis, the Shias, Sunnis, Hindu, Christian-- whomever. And when we internalize this our extremism will end. What is Maulana Azizs line of thinking: that he is more pious, more patriotic, that he has the right to call anyone heathen, a traitor. We didnt come to the rescue of the beleaguered minorities and we face the music. I warn you, if we dont protect Shias now- not b/c they are special-- they have to be saved because Pakistan needs to be saved. Theyre at the frontlines of this War. The day Shias capitulate completely Pakistans ideological raison detre ceases to exist- the nation-State will cease to exist. nd God Forbid this country of ours will become an ISIL acquisition or some Caliphate- and these parties will rule the roost. I have survived 16 years to see this day --- when I hear slogans of Down with the Taliban outside the Red Mosque-- thank God!!! (shouts of whoever support the Taliban is a traitor). We hav to close ranks. At every Friday prayer we need to call out the extremist clerics publicly. The last thing Ill say is that I really sympathize with 2 communities. The Pashtun whose children were used as cannon fodder and sent off to fight foreign wars- -who were flattered with the cynical exhortations of being the Martial Race-- a concept promoted so they could die on the battlefields of Kashmir and Afghanistan and Chechnya. And secondly I say to the Deobandis-- for the love of God -- fight, not for me but for your own sake-- and tell M. Aziz: I am a Deobandi too but I am no killer. (And to the Pashtun)-- and tell M. Fazlullah I am a Pashtun too but I am no murderer. Reclaim your identities and your public spaces. THANK YOU.
Posted on: Tue, 23 Dec 2014 19:11:49 +0000
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