A killer falls

Malik Ishaq, the founder of Pakistan’s most feared sectarian organisation, the extreme Sunni terror group Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, is dead. The LeJ, which was founded in 1996, is believed to be behind multiple sectarian attacks in the country. Ishaq himself was implicated in dozens of cases of murder and was thought to be the mastermind behind key terrorist attacks that have taken place in recent years including the 2009 attack on the Sri Lankan cricket team in Lahore. The details of Malik Ishaq’s death are somewhat unclear. He was killed along with his two sons, Usman and Haq Nawaz, and 11 others in an encounter with police late Tuesday night. The encounter took place in Shahwala in Punjab’s Muzaffargarh district where Ishaq had been taken for interrogation after being arrested by the Counter Terrorism Department about a week ago. The purpose of taking them to southern Punjab was to help recover weapons and explosives. According to the police account, as the party with Ishaq and his sons was returning, it was attacked by about 15 gunmen who were able to kill Ishaq and his sons. A police party then challenged the militants, resulting in a shoot-out. Fourteen militants were among those killed in the incident.
As has been the case in previous such encounters, the details will remain in the shadows. But the death of Ishaq could have a distinct impact on sectarian crime in the country. Arrested in 1997, Malik Ishaq was released on bail in July 2011 after a failure to prove the multiple charges against him. He continued to deliver strongly sectarian speeches and had been placed under house arrest on multiple occasions. The death of Malik Ishaq means that all the three men behind the formation of the LeJ, which emerged as a breakaway faction from the Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistan, are now dead. Riaz Basra died in 2002, Akram Lahori was executed early this year. With Malik Ishaq now also killed, the chief figures linked to the sectarian organisation which was banned nearly a decade ago but remained essentially active, are now gone. Whether this will result in a decline in sectarian crime or a weakening of the forces that promote it is difficult to say. The truth is that in our country, for many – notably in certain seminaries run by extremist forces – men like Ishaq are heroes. His death will promote him further as such. We need to remember that the killing of one man does not end the wrong that he has done or the thinking that he promoted. This will live on, and our task now as a nation is to combat it in any way we can so that we can eventually kill off sectarianism and hatred in all its different forms.