Are Shias Not One of Our Own!

Run, while you can. Run away from this monstrous state that Pakistan is becoming. Run before the denial and ignorance of the citizens of this land of pure devours your soul. Run before you lift a stranger’s lifeless body bathed in blood. Run before that body is of your loved one’s. Run before you are a victim yourself. Run while you can.

We vowed to never forget what happened on the fateful day of 16th December 2014. When we saw images of young children, all pale and drenched in blood, with an anguished soul we committed to never forgive the perpetrators behind this dreadful act. We saw mothers bellowing in agony over coffins of their young sons and we promised that we would stand against the terrorists who stole our future from us. We vowed, we committed, we promised to never forget and less than 2 months later, we have forgotten, we have moved on and we have gone back into our favorite mood, Denial.

We ignore what doesn’t affect us or rather we think it doesn’t. We remain oblivious to a calamity, switch the TV channel and pretend nothing has happened. We are suffering from a self-imposed short term memory loss as we are too stonehearted now and turning our faces away is easier than facing what this country is becoming.

Over 60 Shias lost their lives in a suicide attack on 30th January 2015 while they had gathered in Karbala Maula Imam Bargah in Shikarpur for Friday prayers. Fathers, brothers, sons, grandsons, grandfathers, so many relations wiped out of existence in a matter of seconds.

And how did the people of this land of pure react? By staying silent. A deafening aching silence has been observed by the citizens of this country. Why? Are the Shias not human enough? Is the loss of their lives not a loss? Are the shattered families not real enough? Is their blood less red than ours? Or are they not ‘Muslim’ enough?

This is exactly why Jundallah, who has conveniently claimed the barbarity, carried this attack. For them the people who believe in the Oneness of the Almighty, accept Quran as their sacred book, Prophet PBUH as the Creator’s messenger and Hazrat Ali as Ameer-ul-Momineen, Commander of the faithful, are not religious enough. How can loving Hazrat Ali be a sin? Remember how Prophet PBUH proclaimed loudly and proudly: “Mann Kunto Maula, Fa Haza Ali un-Maula: Whoever accepts me as a master, Ali is his master too.”

How can murdering the devotees of Ali be a religious act? How can murdering anyone be religious? Have we gone blind or have we closed our eyes to what Shias are going through in Pakistan? In fact, what all minorities are facing in this withering state? Why are we comfortable in sitting at home and not protesting on the roads for our fellow citizens?

Or are we still in a delusional state of mind that everything wrong that happens in our country is a conspiracy of the west or our neighbors to weaken us? How long are we going to keep pointing fingers and forgetting that the enemy is indeed one of us? And when we don’t condemn or raise our voices against the enemy, we are in fact supporting them.

How many Joseph colonies can we afford to see get burnt? How many Ahmadis will have to be massacred in their mosques? How many Shamas and Sajjads will have to be burnt alive in the kiln? How many dead bodies do we need to see on Alamdar Road to wake up this sleeping nation?

We came out in thousands whenever any political leader called out for a jalsa or a sit in. Even if half of those people had the audacity to come out to show solidarity for the lives lost in Shikarpur, our Shia brethren would’ve slept a little in peace. But we didn’t. We stayed at home. We stayed in our comfort zones. We moved on with our lives. Because why should we protest? Why should we be out on the roads? They were Shias after all; they were not one of our own!