The intelligence report on the November 15 Ashura killings in Pindi tragedy is now in the possession of the Punjab chief minister. Its key conclusions, courtesy the press, are out. Beyond recording the heinous crime of killing of madrassa students by some individuals in the procession, it makes the following 10 important points.
One: That under the Muharram security plan, the Madrassah Taleem-ul-Quran located on the Ashura procession route was declared “highly sensitive”.
Two: The seminary and the mosque were not provided with an adequate security.
Three: Use of loudspeakers was banned by the local administration except for azaan and khutba in Arabic. That ban was not imposed. The imam Qari Shakir used the loudspeaker while the police was present.
Four: While the procession was passing by according to the report the following leaders from the banned Sipha-e-Sahaba were present in the mosque: Maulana Ashraf Ali, Qari Shakir, Maulana Amanullah (vice Khateeb), Maulana Maqsood Usmani, Tanveer Alam from Sadiqabad, Abdur Rasheed, Qari Sanaullah from Madni Masjid, Qari Nisar Ahmed from Awan Colony and 150 to 200 other worshippers.
Five: Trouble began after the Imam of the mosque, Qari Shakir, began his speech at the mosque at 1.30pm. The speech was in Urdu.
Six: The administration arrived after the violence had spread and the cloth market had been set on fire.
Seven: Despite the earlier decision to take people from the aman committee belonging to different sects, no one was taken along the procession to ensure its security.
Eight: After the Qari’s speech, participants from the procession began targeting the seminary with stones.
Nine: The participants of the procession, Shaukat Jaffari, Bashir Zaidi, Zaighum Abbas, Chaman Shah, Amjad Hussain, Nazar Hussain, Tahir Abbas Kazmi, HM Zaidi and Nazar Hussain of Aryia Mohallah along with Syed Mehdi, Alam Dar Hussain and Ishfaq Wahdi provoked the others to attack the seminary and individuals.
Ten: The youngsters from the procession who attacked the seminary were mostly from Parachinar and Baltistan. Most of those tragically killed in the violence were from other cities, including Rehmat Shah from Batgram, Tariq Mehmood from Khushab, Habibur Rehman from Murree, Shakirullah from Swabi, Muhammad Anwar and Tariq Mehmood from Bagh. Three others who were killed during the violence remained unidentified.
The chief minister has the facts on the basis of which immediate action should be taken. The only way forward for the government is to take action against the officials, the killers and the provocateurs.
Every crisis brings with it an opportunity to improve matters, to reform our ways. There is an explosive situation on the militancy and sectarian front that Pakistan faces. If the ‘international jihad’ sowed the seeds of much of the trouble, a scared, partisan and incompetent administrative, law-enforcement and judicial setup, is worsening the crisis. Now is the chance to taken an across the board even-handed action.