Related posts: List of non-Hazara Shia Muslims killed by SSP-LeJ-Taliban in Balochistan – by Marya Mushtaq
Is it Hazara genocide or Shia genocide? – by Musa Changezi
ISI-sponsored Shia genocide in Pakistan or Sunni-Shia sectarian violence?
Blood of Shia Muslims flows freely in Pakistan – by Amir Mir
Intellectual dishonesty in misrepresenting Shia massacres in Pakistan
The aim of this post is to introduce Abdul Khaliq Hazara, leader of Hazara Democratic Party – a pseudo-secular ethnic party through which ISI operates among the Hazara-Shias of Quetta.
He is the same individual who recently gave an infamous interview to Ejaz Haider (now more befittingly known on twitter as Ejaz Haider Jhangvi) in which he had labeled the people he claims to represent as Iranian agents. In Abdul Khaliq Hazara ‘s words, Hazara Shias:
“play in the hands of Iran, our religious leaders … Funds come from Iran through their consulate and we see this action-reaction pattern which takes toll of Hazara life.”
While both Khaliq Hazara and Ejaz Haider received a deserving thrashing on the social media, the former – with the help of his Khaki masters – is gaining good ground in Quetta by cashing on the recent Mastung and Akhtarabad massacres of Hazara-Shias.
According to Farrukhzaad Ali:
On the face of it, Abdul Khaliq Hazara is a secular nationalist Hazara leader, who assumed the chair of Hazara Democratic Party (HDP) after Hussain Ali Yousafi’s assassination. Ridiculous it might seem, but not so when ISI is involved. I have stated previously that while the duplicitous ‘deep state’ has crushed every genuine secular movement in Pakistan, the secular/nationalist Hazaras of Quetta have had the privilege of receiving maximum state support ever since the Iranian Revolution. During the Soviet War, Hazara nationalists served as ISI’s secure channel to the Hazara factions of Afghanistan, more specifically, the self-professed Maoist groups. They have enjoyed a cozy relationship throughout this period, and what keeps them closer is a magnified Iranian influence in Quetta. The nationalists project it to remain relevant to the deep state, which in turn uses it as an excuse to ruthlessly use Hazaras as bait while pursuing its grand project in Afghanistan. Suffice it to say that Abdul Khaliq Hazara is the incumbent ISI blue-eyed among Hazaras in Quetta.
Ban Muharram Processions
In a recent interview with BBC Persian Service, Muhammad Ahmed Ludhianvi, head of SSP warned Pakistan’s Shia Muslims to refrain from taking to streets in the month of Muharram. While Ludhianvi’s warning is clearly motivated by the Saudi-Deobandi sectarian logic, certain agents of the military establishment are using the security logic as a pretext to restrict Muharram processions. It is, however, a fact that Shia Muslims are being killed everywhere as are moderate Sunni Muslims whose mosques are routinely attacked by LeJ-TTP terrorists particularly during Friday prayers. Thus the very suggestion, restriction on processions or congregations in mosques due to security, is ludicrous.
Interestingly but not surprisingly a similar proposal to restrict Muharram processions was previously offered by Abdul Khaliq Hazara. Khaliq had suggested four years ago what Ludhyanvi suggests today i.e., ban Muharram processions. On that occasion too, Shia Muslims of Balochistan including Shia Hazaras were highly suspicious of the real motives of the man who claims to represent them but is instead repeating and reinforcing the logic and agenda of LeJ-SSP-ISI operatives.
There’s no Shia genocide, only ethnic cleansing of Hazara community
In order to gain political benefit from the current situation, as well as support the establishment’s narrative, the line Abdul Khaliq Hazara and his followers have adopted (or have been asked to adopt) is to misrepresent the case for Shia massacres in Quetta on ethnic lines with an aim to shift the blame from LeJ-SSP-TTP operatives of the Deep State to the Pashtuns and the Baloch. Much concentrated efforts are underway in the political and public spheres in Quetta, as well as on the mainstream and socials media, to expound and echo this narrative, and dilute the religious motives and context of the issue.
While on the one hand, Abul Khaliq Hazara is supported by his operatives in social media (such as Saleem Javed @mSaleemJaved on Twitter) who treacherously propagate this narrative while not having the gall to openly admit their servitude to him, on the other, noted liberals like Ali Dayan Hasan (who otherwise pounce on every sexy topic and pin up to their chests the accolades to showcase themselves for their routine balls) are wittingly or unwittingly supporting this narrative by presenting selective information and using flawed jargon. The persistence of the narrative has been further reinforced by the usage of the same flawed jargon by other writers and activists, e.g., Mustafa Qadri of Amnesty International who described Hazara Shias as Afghan refugees. Another similar example is Khaled Ahmed of the Friday Times, who has not only been declaring the pogrom of Shias in Quetta an ethnic issue, but has also very confidently placed the onus of the killings on the Pashtuns. I wonder why he doesn’t blame the Baloch for what he considers ethnic killings; that would serve the establishment better. Here is a snapshot for such misrepresenting discourse from Twitter:
mSaleemJaved Saleem Javed
Ditto! RT @masydoraja: Hazaras are not killed for sectarian reasons. Even if they were Sunnis dey wud suffer due 2 ethnicitymSaleemJaved Saleem Javed
RT @masydoraja: bringing Sectarian colour in focus is a sinister agenda to accentuate another faultline in #BalochistanmSaleemJaved mSaleemJaved Saleem Javed
Bravo! RT @masydoraja: U R not doing service to Pakistan by painting an ethnic problem with sectarianmSaleemJaved Saleem Javed
If I call it sectarian, it’s an oversimplification of the issue. RT @PakistanEHRC: @mSaleemJaved How can you say there is not anti-Shia group operating in Quetta? Plz clarify your positionAliDayan Ali Dayan Hasan
It is shameful that #Pakistani authorities are turning a blind eye to ethnically targeted killings of the #Hazara in Balochistan says@HRW
The foregoing demonstrates one recent progress that has been made as far as the use of jargon is concerned. But for more harm than good. Previously, the terms used for this continuous pogrom of Shias in Quetta were vague and misinforming words like ‘sectarian clash’ and ‘sectarian killing’, insidiously presenting the situation like a tit-for-tat one, as was done by Ejaz Haider who called the happenings a ‘sectarian clash’ between Sunnis and Shias, thus reinforcing the establishment’s narrative that LeJ-SSP-TTP operatives represent Sunnis. Of recent, the words have been somewhat replaced by a ‘more academic and specific’ term such as ethnic-cleansing.
According to Abdul Khaliq Hazara and his loyalists, propagandists and affiliates, the Quetta killings are ethnic in nature and should therefore be stripped of their religious connotations and presented on ethnic lines. This agenda while comfortably ensconced in the army narrative also suits the liberal standards of human rights activists like Ali Dayan Hasan of HRW and so-called objective op-ed writers who can pretend to be writing on lesser-touched issues, and rather reinforce establishment’s garbage.
Hazara-Shias cannot be both religious and innocent at the same time
However, the clear doublespeak easily noticeable in the usage of these terms is that whenever the religious background of the issue is invoked, the situation is presented as a ‘sectarian clash’ in order to deprive the Hazara of the higher moral and emotional pedestal, but when the same issue is approached more sympathetically, the massacre is called ‘ethnic-cleansing’ and the religious/sectarian background is conveniently ignored. The point to be made here is that the Hazara-Shias cannot be both religious and innocent at the same time. In order to be innocent, they must be Hazaras only, for which they might be treated sympathetically, at least in words.
In response to whatever is being said here, some possible – but trite – arguments can be made, and it would wise to preempt them. For example, one might say that the term ‘ethnic-cleansing’ is an academic one that has been used for seemingly similar situations across the world, including the ones that have involved religious minorities.
This explanation is wrong on two, possibly three, counts. First of all, academically, ethnic-cleansing doesn’t apply to religious communities but ethnic ones, and religious and ethnic lines are not always confluent. In fact, a proper study of theories and historical development of ethnicity and nationalism can very clearly explain that religion is not an ingredient of these two compositions and therefore has always been treated separately. This is being said in light of the views of both primordialist and modernist exponents of the discipline.
Secondly, ethnic-cleansing shouldn’t be confused with genocide, for the two words are not necessarily synonymous. The same academic literature which is sought to take refuge in for the usage of the word can be checked for the difference between the two terms. For example, ethnic cleansing and genocide can be distinguished by the intent of the perpetrator: whereas the primary goal of genocide is the destruction of an ethnic, racial, or religious group, the main purpose of ethnic cleansing is the establishment of ethnically homogeneous lands, which may be achieved by various methods including genocide.
And thirdly, the term ethnic-cleansing has been coined in the West, and used in specific and distinct situations that are, or might be, very much different to the situation faced in Quetta. Therefore, a term that doesn’t belong to a specific situation – and in all probability has been wrongly used even elsewhere – cannot be superimposed on a peculiar situation. Indigenous terms can be coined if required; otherwise, what is befalling the Shias of Quetta can very easily be termed as sectarian-genocide. Just as the killings of Ahmadi Muslims and Christians are identified on religious grounds, those of the Shias too should be identified as such.
Non-Hazara Shias killed in Balochistan
As a matter of fact, Hazara are being targeted because they are Shias. It would take a great amount of intellectual dishonesty and ISI-fed knowledge to treat LeJ as an ethnic organization in complete disregard of the LeJ’s sectarian motives. The Shias martyred in Quetta along with Hazara include other ethnicities. Of course, the Hazara Shias have suffered most because of their high concentration in Quetta but the same could be said of Toori Shias in Kurram, Saraiki Shias in D.I.Khan and elsewhere.
Here are only a few names amongst dozens of non-Hazara Shia Muslims killed by LeJ-TTP in Balochistan in the last few years:
- Dr. Mumtaz Haider (Urdu Speaking),
- Dr. Abid (Urdu Speaking),
- Mr. Sibtain Naqvi (Urdu Speaking),
- Mr. Ejaz Rizvi (Punjabi),
- Mr. Abid Abidi (Urdu Speaking),
- Mr. Mureed (Punabi),
- Mr. Abdul Khaliq Bangulzai (Brahwi),
- Liaquat Lehri (Baloch-Brahvi); Syed Arif (Baltistani),
- 10 Yousafzai (Qandhari) boys who were playing cricket.
All of the above named people were non-Hazara Shias. Clearly those misrepresenting Shia massacres by the LeJ-TTP in Balochistan as an ethnic issue are willing or naive partners of killers. Pakistani and international media persons as well as activists need to beware of such pro-army discourse.
Let’s wipe out Shias, first physically, then from the media discourse
The so called Hazara delegate which met President Zardari on 13 October 2011 was led by none else than the Deep State’s chosen man,Abdul Khaliq Hazara, known for his special relations with Pakistan Army. It is therefore no surprise that misled by such army-operatives, the press release issued by the media office of President Zardari did not refer to Shia Muslims even once in his vague (pre-approved by ISI?) statement in the aftermath of the meeting!
Misrepresenting Shia massacres to a particular ethnicity or region is no service to Shia Muslims. Such false narratives serve to obfuscate, and enable future massacres of Shia Muslims by LeJ, SSP, Jundullah etc. President Zardari and his media advisers must note that those slaughtering Shia Hazaras are not different from those who are killing Shia Tooris and Shia Saraikis. They must also note that mass murders of Shia Muslims will continue until Pakistan army abandons its policy of proxy war through jihadis. The ongoing blockade of Parachinar by ISI-backed Haqqani Taliban is an evidence to the fact that Deep State is punishing anti-Taliban Shias.
We note with concern that at least a few person in the PPP appear to be convenient mouthpieces of army/ISI. It is a matter of great concern if loyalists of the military state are infiltrated in the PPP or its media wing. Instead of misrepresenting Shia massacres as ethnic massacres, the PPP must get rid of the black sheep within its own ranks.
In her critical post on Hamid Mir’s crocodile tears on Hazara Shia massacre, Laibaah identifies a number of problems with the ethnic cleansing narrative:
1. It ignores the fact that the LeJ, SSP, TTP killers proudly own the massacres of Shia Hazaras (as well as those of Shia Tooris and Shia Saraikis etc) as a part of their jihad against kafir (infidel) Shias. Of course, it would amount to intellectual and moral bankruptcy to consider LeJ, SSP as an ethnocentric organization.
2. Such narrative hides the only common element between Toori Pashtuns of Kurram, Saraikis of Dera Ismail Khan, Muhajir and Sindhi Shias of Karachi and Punjabi Shias of Lahore and Jhang. LeJ’s attacks on all of these groups are not motivated by their ethnicity but by their faith, ie, Shia sect.
3. It also ignores the fact that in an ethnic conflict, particularly when there is an allegation of ethnic cleansing, there are always two parties. For example, in the Rawandan genocide, Hutu militia groups, backed by the Rwandan military, systematically set out to murder all the Tutsis they could reach, regardless of age or sex. If Hazaras are being ethnically cleansed, which ethnic group is killing them? Herein lies the sinister aim of the vested interests currently spreading the false narrative of ‘ethnic cleansing’. By terming Shia Hazara massacres as ethnic cleansing they are indeed blaming Baloch nationalists and/or Pashtuns. Whose narratives are they serving? By blaming the Pashtuns, they are reinforcing General Hamid Gul, Tariq Ali and Imran Khan’s narratives who treat the Pashtun as synonymous to the Taliban. And of course, it serves the army/ISI’s agenda to blame Baloch nationalists including the BLA for the Shia Hazara massacres enabling the military state to kill two birds in one stone, i.e. the rebel Baloch and the non-compliant (anti-Taliban) Shia. Unfortunately the same ISI-esque narrative has been adopted by some media persons and human rights organizations.
4. As far as human rights organizations are concerned, it is much more convenient for them to paint Shia Hazara massacres in Quetta as ethnic cleansing because it helps them cover up their criminal silence on the brutal, incessant Shia massacres which are taking place in Pakistan since 1985 at the hands of the Deep State and its various proxies, e.g., the currently ongoing blockade of Shia Tooris of Parachinar by Pakistan army backed Taliban which is effective since 2007.
It also helps them cover up their complete silence on mass massacres of Saraiki Shias of D.I.Khan, Bhakkar and other similar incidents in Karachi, Lahore and other parts of Pakistan. In short, by reducing Shia Hazara massacres as ethnic cleansing, human rights organizations are conveniently shedding their ethical and professional duties towards Shia citizens of Pakistan.
An example from social media:
AliDayan Ali Dayan Hasan
It is shameful that #Pakistani authorities are turning a blind eye to ethnically targeted killings of the #Hazara in Balochistan says@HRW
5. The ethnic cleansing narrative clearly serves to ignore the complicit role played by Pakistan army and its subservient institutions (jihadi/sectarian organizations, judiciary, media etc) in stereotyping and massacres of Shia Muslims in Pakistan. For example, there is no mention of how in January 2008, two members of Lashkar-e-Jangvi, one of them on death row, were secretly released from a high-security prison in Quetta. Usman Saifullah Kurd and Shafiq ur Rehman were convicted for, among other things, the raid on Shia mosque in Quetta in 2003 that killed 53 people. The escape of the two was the second high-profile get-away in just over a month [of course with the help of Pakistan army]. A Pakistani British man, Rashid Rauf, suspected of involvement in an al Qaeda plot to blow up U.S.-bound airliners over the Atlantic Ocean was helped to escape by the Deep State’s operatives in December 2007. (Source). There are serious questions about the role of Pakistan army-ISI. How did Usman Saifullah Kurd, the LeJ terrorist, manage to escape from a high-security ATF prison situated in Quetta cantonment? What about Daud Badini? According to a report, the night Kurd escaped, some Hazara guards were relieved from duty and the roster changed. It is difficult to corroborate this story especially if the duty roster was indeed changed unless one could compare it with the original roster. It would be naive to think that would still exist. But the question remains: how did Kurd escape?
6. A Kufi Shia role is being played by some agency plants within Shias such as Ejaz Haider who justified Hazara killing by painting them as Iranian agents and Abdul Khaliq Hazara of Hazara Democratic Party who provided Ejaz Haider with such narrative. Abdul Khaliq Hazara is known for misleading Shia Hazaras of Quetta by diverting their attention from the real killers (LeJ supported by Pakistan army) and instead has been asked by Pakistan army to paint the Shia Hazara massacres as an ethnic issue. Abdul Khaliq Hazara is the man who has provided false assurance to Shia Hazaras of Quetta that army will come to protect them, therefore they don’t need to take care of their own security through licensed weapons, anti-terrorism training, better security arrangements etc. Of course, army sends its emissaries not to protect but to massacre Shia Hazaras on a routine basis.
Pakistan Blogzine 