Strange stance

We would imagine that in a country within which thousands of lives have been lost over the last two decades to sectarian killings, a person in a position of key power, such as Interior Minister Chaudry Nisar Ali Khan, would wish to change things for the better. This is all the more true since his ministry is also responsible for implementing the National Action Plan which bars the delivery of hate speech and lays down punishments for groups responsible for inciting violence. Instead, while answering a question in parliament on why he met Maulana Muhammad Ahmed Ludhianvi of the Ahle Sunnat wal-Jammat (ASWJ) during a meeting with a delegation from the Difa-e-Pakistan Council, the interior minister insisted that banned sectarian groups could not be equated with banned terrorist groups and that, at any rate, the conflict between Sunnis and Shias dated back 1300 years. This raises a number of key questions. Even if the problem dates back centuries, it is surely the role of a responsible government to create an environment in which people can peacefully live together. Indeed, sectarian violence has worsened dramatically since the 1980s when the dictatorship of the late General Ziaul Haq promoted the influx of Middle Eastern based groups and by doing so encouraged a dangerous sectarian divide which has since haunted us. In the 1990s in particular, entire battles raged in Punjab between private armies raised by sectarian groups. These have involved attacks on shrines as well. Notably, the Shia community has been a consistent target of this violence.

The worsening of such sectarian divides – which have also affected minority groups – should surely be something the government takes gravely. Such hatred cannot simply be ignored. There has to be a recognition that forces such as the fiercely anti-Shia Lashkar-e-Jhangvi have linked up with the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan to create an extremely dangerous nexus which has resulted in multiple attacks, including those on buildings representing security agencies or state forces. It is also no accident that the ASWJ has been banned for over a decade. Initially, it was banned under its original name, the Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistan, and then again when it renamed itself the Millat-e-Islamia. The LeJ too is banned as are several other bodies forming a part of the 36-member Difa-e-Pakistan Council made up mainly of right-wing groups who came together after a 2011 killing of some 24 Pakistani civilians by US drones. We also wonder what the definition of a terrorist organisation is, and why these sectarian organisations were banned in the first place if they are indeed not defined as terrorist entities. The government needs to consider if it is truly committed to policies that can permit genuine peace in the country. If there is a refusal to understand the dangers of sectarian violence, no matter which group perpetuates it, this will not be possible and we will only fall into a deeper and deeper abyss of death.