Related post: Questioning Laibaah’s integrity – by Ailia Zehra
According to my Twitter profile, I am:
“a Pakistani American currently based in Arizona, USA. As a human rights activist, I question silence of Pakistan’s urban journalists & bloggers on mass murders of Baloch, Hazara, Tooris & other oppressed groups.
http://criticalppp.com/archives/52709“
In the last few months, my friends and I on Twitter have been able to generate some waves of discomfort for those columnists, analysts, opinion makers, social media activists, and human rights activists who have been selectively silent on anyone or more of the following issues:
- genocide of the Baloch and Hazara in Balochistan;
- mass murder of Shia Muslims in Kurram agency, Kohat, Quetta, D.I.Khan, Karachi, Lahore and other areas of Pakistan;
- target killing of Punjabi, Saraiki and Urdu speaking settlers in Balochistan;
- persecution and murder of Ahmadi Muslims;
- persecution and murder of Christians, Hindus and other communities;
- stereotyping, exploitation and murder of Pashtuns in Swat, FATA and other parts of the country;
- sinister role of the military establishment in nurturing, training and protecting jihadi and sectarian monsters (LeT, LeJ, JeM, Taliban) involved in the murder of moderate Sunnis (e.g. Maulana Hasan Jan (Deobandi), Maulana Sarfraz Naeemi (Barelvi)) as well as Shias, Ahmadis, Christians and other religious groups;
- complicity of the Supreme Court of Pakistan with the military establishment in releasing sectarian terrorists (e.g. Malik Ishaq, Hafiz Saeed, Qari Saifullah Akhtar) while not pursuing important cases against the ISI, MI (e.g., missing persons in Balochistan and elsewhere, murder of Khalid Khwaja, murder of Syed Saleem Shahzad).
While I have received enormous support on Twitter from many friends and like-minded people in my advocacy of the Baloch, Shia, Ahmadis and other oppressed groups, it is important to acknowledge criticism:
- My Twitter account has been suspended thrice after being en masse blocked and reported by urban liberal elite and their middle class flatterers and aspirants who were quite discomfited by some of the questions I asked. I have been variously termed as a sociopath, a troll, an abuser and harasser.
- I have been subject to abusive language on Twitter including by urban liberals and right wingers, which include columnists, LUMS graduates, political workers and human rights activists.
However, I have also received enormous support from a large number of Tweeples and social media activists who boldly supported my stance on a number of issues, wrote bold posts and petitions while my account was banned. Recently they have helped me in developing a new advocacy group (Pakistan Blogzine google group).
Some of my friends as well as critics have been asking me about my personal details, such as, name, location, tribe, gender, qualification etc.
Through this post, I wish to clarify that my aims and values have nothing to do with my name, location, gender, faith, ethnicity etc. Of course I use a pen name as I don’t want my narrative to be as castigated and compromised as that of many urban liberals who remain either silent or dishonest on mass murders of the Baloch, Hazara, Tooris etc. This caution is particularly important in view of some threatening messages I received which I don’t want to publish at this stage.
Therefore, I will encourage all of my friends and supporters on Twitter and other social media to consider using a pen name to ensure personal security as well as uncompromised narrative.
Together we can make an impact.
Each one of has a right to question those human rights monitors and journalists who have failed to document and publish reports or data on everyday persecution of Ahmadi Muslims, extrajudicial killings of Pashtuns in Swat, mass murder of Hazaras, Tooris and Saraiki Shias, and persecution of other communities.
We are here to support the weak, the oppressed, the persecuted, the voiceless of Pakistan.
We are struggling against the powerful mainstream. The more they try to suppress, ridicule or ignore our criticism, the more resolute we will be in pursuit of our goals.
Hum dekhen ge, Inshallah!
