Even Ramazan, the holy month when the faithful fast and pray and seek forgiveness of Almighty Allah for the sins they have committed, could not save Muslims from the supposedly religious fervour of supposedly ‘superior’ Muslims. Mentored to kill, teenage suicide bombers are dispatched from seminaries with kindly blessings and generous praise, to target citizens of other sects, in the pursuit of heaven.
Tempted by the same concept, two suicide bombers detonated their jackets in Parachinar, Kurram Agency, taking the lives of 50 citizens who were out shopping for their iftar needs as well as shopkeepers, and wounding nearly 200 others. Twenty of the wounded are in critical condition, and continue to struggle for their lives. Around the scene of tragedy is the area inhabited mainly by the members of Shia community, who have suffered painful incident after incident at the hands of fanatic Sunnis in Quetta, Karachi, Northern Areas and some parts of the tribal region.
The Shia community has shown itself to be a model of patience, constituting 20% of the population, they have refused to react violently, and even now continue to record heartbreaking protests with a deaf and dumb government and military.
Government has failed to comprehend the cruel reality that internal sectarian strife is proving to be more destabilising than the drones operated from half way around the world. Let’s look within and not blame outside agents for the carnage.
Sectarian madness is an agenda of these butchering hordes of men, apart from their commonly known mission of driving the occupation forces out of Afghanistan. And it is, beyond doubt, more lethal to social harmony than, perhaps, any other affliction the country suffers from. Unless those who spearhead the sectarian murders are gotten rid of, it would be idle to assume that anything else, be it the departure of foreign troops from Afghanistan or talks with the militants could bring peace to this long troubled land.
The fault lies with the government, the security agencies and the religious leaders who know who these sectarian leaders are, who know where they live, who do not put any hurdles in the way of their operations and whose evil agenda none have the courage to openly condemn.
It is time the sectarian terrorists were flushed out of the system and for that the authorities would also have to ensure not just a ruthless operation, but also that the stream of funds and arms coming from sympathetic sectarian interests abroad are not allowed to reach them.