Narratives of Hatred

I visit Pakistan quite often as part of my work, but my last visit to Pakistan was something of a new, shocking experience, when I personally observed just how widespread extremist narratives of inter- and intra-religious hate have become in the country. I was there to organise an interfaith workshop, as part of our Musawaat Project, with the aim of fostering mutual understanding between various faith groups living in Pakistan - but here I was, surrounded by the folks committed to doing exactly opposite to what we are trying to achieve.

I had my first glimpse of this when I went to a local internet café in Lahore, to print out another sheaf of paperwork for the workshop. To my surprise, a gentleman sitting next to me was busy editing some material in Urdu, compiling some sort of lengthy document. He was so involved in his work that he seemed to have no idea about what going on in his surroundings. Truly, a studious man! By accident, though, I happened to glance at a few words on the screen of his monitor and, and then my spirits fell: I realized that he was busy trying to construct a comprehensive proof that the members of another faith community were absolute infidels. He was fully absorbed in his work, bending all his literary skill to make it more convincing for his audience, so that his campaign of hatred could be successful.

It would be easy to dismiss this as a single crank spewing out his beliefs into a digital void, who only represented himself and his own beliefs. In all honesty, though, I could not - the nature of my work involved visiting various places in Punjab and, wherever I went, I saw more spine-chilling evidence of this sort of widespread hate. In Punjab, I came across extensive wall chalking, the graffitist motivating people in the name of religion, to participate in ‘Jihad’. These messages usually include pictures of swords and other violent imagery – it is fairly clear that they do not recommend the Greater Jihad of resisting temptation and fighting social injustice – and even include a phone number and contact details for anyone wishing to sign up.

An auto-rickshaw in Lahore promoting a ‘Jihad’ campaign.

Elsewhere, I saw the same message repeated over and over. Posters carried by a number of auto-rickshaws were also carrying the same message, inciting people to prepare themselves for a very violent ‘Jihad’, and reiterating the sentiments of hatred against some faith groups within Pakistan. Some campaigns looked outward, also focusing on spreading hate sentiments against the neighbouring India.

This emerging trend of extremist discourse is not new to Pakistani society. It is not very long ago that, in 2007/8, a Taliban cleric by the name of Maulana Fazalullah (famously nicknamed ‘Mulla Radio’) persuaded the people of Sawat Valley to take part in similarly violent religious armed conflict under the banner of Jihad, through his programmes aired on several FM transmitters that he installed around the valley in order to spread his message. The impact of his sermons was huge and he prepared a large number of people to stand up against the state of Pakistan. The misuse of mosque loudspeakers to spread hatred has also been observed at various occasions like in 2009, in the Gojra riots, where announcements were made in the local mosques urging people to attack the Christian community members. This sort of aggressive use of religious rhetoric to encourage and legitimise extremist violence is depressingly common.

This tapestry of extremist narratives and shared hatreds is very much widespread, and resonates throughout Pakistani society on an emotional and nationalistic level. Extremists use domestic and international events to justify the promotion of their hatred towards various vulnerable groups in the society, justifying hatred against vulnerable minorities as part of a broader international struggle. Recent campaigns of attacks against the Shia and Christian communities in Pakistan suggest that such rhetoric has an audience; extremists are quite successful in their objectives to widespread violent prejudice and murderous hatred.

One of the most alarming things that I saw in Punjab was the general absence of any counter-narratives, or a serious strategy to deal with the challenges posed by the extremists’ views and ideas. Even if they are marginal – a man in an internet café in Lahore, a poster on an auto-rickshaw, some chalk graffiti on a wall – there are simply no challenges or alternative messages to them, allowing them to spread and draw people into the extremist fold.  What’s necessary is the creation of a positive discourse in Pakistan that emphasises the fact that these hate-based narratives can never bring peace in the country, and are in fact self-destructive and harmful. We need to create harmony between the country’s diverse faith groups, collectively counter the narratives targeting any group based on their religious ideologies, language or ethnicity, and encourage ways of thinking and resolving problems that do not resort to violence.

One such effort was done by Faith Matters, a UK based countering extremism, conflict resolution and interfaith organization, through their Pegham (the Message) project, that involved sending out approximately 50 million SMS messages into the areas of FATA and Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK). In the hundred and sixty characters of an SMS text, the message had to challenge the extremists’ actions, making them think about the context of the violence and offering them new perspectives and viewpoints on religion, Pakistani society, and violence. Some of the messages used are given below:

• The Prophet (PBUH) said:"Attainment of knowledge is a must for every Muslim”. Terrorists destroy boys school in SWAT. How is this Islamic?
• “You shall resort to pardon, advocate tolerance, and disregard the ignorant - Al Araf v.199. What will you do to challenge false preaching?”

The Pegham project engaged a number of Pakistanis, trying to counter the hate based ideologies of the extremists by giving them new narratives of conflict, and ways to think about extremist violence. Faith Matters received a considerable number of enthusiastic responses received from the people living in those regions, and the project left a positive impact on the communities.

Pegham was only a single project though, and more such initiatives are needed in Pakistan to stand against the growing tides of extremist thought and ideology.  It’s particularly important for this work to protect Pakistan’s extremely large young population, who are particularly vulnerable today, as they are the prime target of these extremists. They are preyed upon by people seeking to promote their own vicious ideologies, ones cloaked in seemingly religious language but actually driven by their own agendas. We need to offer an alternative.
 

Rehman Anwer

New Attacks – Old Reasons (A perspective on the recent attack on Joseph Colony, Lahore)

Just this Saturday we saw another mob attack on one of the densely populated Christian areas, Joseph colony in Badaami Bagh, Lahore that burnt more than 150 houses and affected more than 250 poor families.

This is hardly a new or unfamiliar turn of events; the root cause of this savagery was not very different from the previous other attacks against the Christian communities in Pakistan. A Muslim man accused a Christian neighbour of committing blasphemy (which is a serious crime in Pakistan - under section 295-C of the Pakistani Penal Code, it can be punished with the death penalty). The man was duly arrested, but this was not enough for the mob, whose blazing fury was stoked until his entire colony had to pay the price for it. Almost the entire colony – houses, possessions, and furnishings alike - of Christian residents was burnt to the ground.

The victims reveal that the police themselves warned them to leave their houses one night before the attack, and that they showed their inability to deal with the angry perpetrators. Again, the behaviour of the local administrative authority and police has not been very different from past events.

It was not very long ago - the 1st of August, 2009, to be precise - that a violent mob had torched nearly 50 houses in a Christian Colony in Gojra (a small village located 30 miles from the city of Faisalabad). Eight Christians were been killed as a result of those attacks. The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan stated that the attack was “not a spontaneous reaction to the allegation of blasphemy but w[as] planned in advance” – in short, it reflected a deep-seated antipathy towards this vulnerable minority group. Announcements made from mosques throughout Gojra urged the Muslims to gather and ‘make mincemeat of Christians The following day, Aug 1, around 1,000 people gathered in the town and marched towards Christian Colony. A police contingent present in the neighbourhood did not try to stop the mob.

Similarly, on November 12, 2005, some 500 Christians had to leave Sangla Hill, a small town in Nankana Sahib district of Pakistan. They had noticed the increasing vitriol against Christians being spouted from mosque loudspeakers, after a Christian man named Yousaf Masih had been accused of burning copies of the Holy Quran, and had fled before the riots to save their lives. The angry mob burnt down three churches, a convent, a missionary school, a girls’ hostel and a pastor’s house.

Looking at the latest anti-Christian attack on the Joseph Colony, a number of important questions come to mind:

• Based on a clear and proven record of religiously motivated attacks in the past, what has been done to control the mob violence against minorities?
• Did religious/community leaders develop and implement any mechanism for conflict resolution or dialogue?
• Has there been any improvement in the laws which allow certain malicious individuals to target Christians and other minorities, putting the most vulnerable individuals in society in danger?

Today, this barbaric attack is widely condemned by the government, civil society organisations and the general public. However, the fact of the matter is that unless the administrative authorities, religious and political leadership play their part to address the root cause of such incidents, they will keep on happening in one form or another, making these condemnations seem somewhat hollow. For members of minority faith groups in Pakistan - who are already living under enormous fear from the extremist groups operating in the country – the situation just keeps getting worse.

One thing can be said for sure at this stage is that radicalisation in Pakistan is rising to an alarming level. It will take serious collective efforts by every segment from every segment of Pakistani society to deal with the grave challenges of extremism and community violence.

Rehman Anwer

Killing of Shia in Pakistan and State Responsibility

                                  

Looking at the news of another devastating attack in a Shia-dominated area of Abbas Town in Karachi, that killed 48 innocent people and left 160 injured, one can’t deny that the political environment for religious minorities in Pakistan is becoming more difficult with every passing day. More than 200 members of the Shia community have been killed since January 2013, with the predicted death toll for 2013 seeming likely to be several times that of. The perpetrators are targeting mosques, residential districts and any gathering of the Shia community in order to carry out their campaign of terror. 

Yesterday’s attack, though, is unique in its nature because it took place in Karachi – the most populated and diverse city of Pakistan. Karachi is the commercial hub of Pakistan, and is  home to approximately 21 million Pakistanis belonging to various faith groups and ethnic backgrounds. Worse, unrest in Karachi means chaos throughout Pakistan, because what happens there affects the entire country in one way or another.  This recent sort of attack by terrorists - in a populated residential area, destroying homes, cafes and banks - poses an extreme threat to ordinary Pakistanis, particularly if they belong to minority faith groups, which have been particularly targeted. The attack also raises a number of questions that the elected government of Pakistan needs to answer, since it is their responsibility to protect all of their citizens. Some of those questions that come to mind include:

-          What concrete steps has the government taken so far to ensure security for its citizens, especially religious minorities? Has it taken into account the direct threats from militant organizations like Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LeJ) that they would continue their atrocities against the Shia community?

-          Why do banned militia groups, including LeJ and Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), still operate freely in the Pakistan?

-          Are CCTV cameras operating in the specific minority residential areas and worship places, to facilitate the investigative process of the terrorist attacks?

-          In case of an emergency, is there a robust mechanism to help the victims and to save the precious human lives, regardless of religious affiliation?

The deadly attack yesterday was made possible, in large part, because of the complete failure of security in the area, and highlights problems with counter-terrorism operations across Pakistan. Eyewitnesses to the incident claimed that huge amounts of explosive material were brought into the area, and that the complete absence of law enforcement presence made it significantly easier for the terrorists to accomplish their task. Another element that increased the public criticism government was that a large number of security officials were providing security to government officials and politicians at the engagement ceremony of a famous politician of the ruling Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) in the same city, diverting attention away from communities like Abbas Town. Following are some of the comments that manifest the anger and frustration of the Pakistani public after the Abbas Town’s blast:

Imaan Sheikh ‏@SheikhImaan Firing in #AbbasTown again. It is undeniable now that this is happening without the authorities' help. Sidra Mansoor ‏@sidra_mansoor If it happend in Abbas Town, it can happen anywhere, in any residential area and in any building. So technically, we should all get ready. Anjum Kiani ‏@AnjumKiani Sharmilla Faruqi's party will continue into the early hours of the morning, whilst we pick up the body parts of our Bro/Sis : Abbas Town Gharidah Farooqi ‏@GFarooqi . Police guarding road to Mohatta whereas thousands in Abbas Town yearn for a single police official #PalaceVSTown Shireen Mazari ‏@ShireenMazari1 MQM exploits Abbas Town tragedy 2 suggest "self help" security or vigilantiism MQM style!But Ebad back as gov so MQM part of failed govt!

Today, the whole nation is in mourning, and religious and political groups are offering their own condemnations of the attacks. For the grief-stricken parents, siblings, and children of the victims, however – many of whom face daily hostility and suspicion in their own country – words alone are not enough.

In the run-up to the upcoming general elections, the government of Pakistan is no longer in a position to get away with such a disastrous security lapse. The biggest challenge for the government now is not only to deal with the problems of terrorism, but also to restore the trust of ordinary Pakistanis (especially those from minority faith backgrounds) in the state apparatus of security and law enforcement. This can only happen, if once and for all, the government takes the problems of terrorism and sectarian violence seriously, and puts every effort into finding answers to the questions raised by their failure to intercept and prevent the recent bomb blast in Karachi.

Rehman Anwer