Who would speak up for a dead Shia?

When did Pakistan become a country where you get executed in public based on your faith?

Adnan Rasool September 21, 2011
As a nation we are getting sicker - we refuse to accept the existence of our disease. We call ourselves humans; we call ourselves people of faith and many other names. But what we don’t call ourselves is what we have become: soulless.  And yesterday’s brazen Nazi style attack on a bus full of pilgrims proves exactly that.

Twenty six people were lined up and shot because of their faith.

Three people were killed while trying to save the lives of others who were shot during this massacre.

That’s enough to send any nation in to a state of absolute shock and awe. And yet here we are a day later, moving on without even looking back again. What has happened to us?

When did Pakistan become a country where you get executed in public based on your faith? And after all this, the only thing our media had to report was someone accepted the responsibility for this attack. So what? So what if someone accepted the responsibility of this attack.

Does that answer why it happened? No.

The fact is, we are so consumed with counting the dead bodies that now they are just numbers to us. We have lost our humanity, our ability to respect a human life or even feel what it means to be human.

This issue did not just pop up, it has been brewing for years. Balochistan has been witnessing targeted killings for years but they hardly get air time. The Hazara people have lost so many people that they have lost count by now. Yet no one seems to care.

While our overlords fight over the game plan in Afghanistan and the issues of Kashmir, our own people are been massacred by psychotic sociopaths who have guns and roam around unchecked.

Why do Jamaat-e-Islami and other religious parties call strikes and take out processions against the drone strikes and foreign intervention while staying absolutely silent about a massacre like this?

The answer to that is simple - because they honestly do not think it is wrong.

The permanent tape on the mouths of religious leaders is evidence of their  secretly support it. The fact that they will not stop crying and shouting about the drone strikes proves that they are willing to speak out, so that leaves us with the fact that they actually believe in this. This is their base, heir reason for power - militant wings that used to ensure they had the firepower to take out their opponents but now have evolved and joined ranks with the Taliban.

While our country is dying, the liberal left is busy Tweeting and Facebook-ing about it and calling on the moral majority to step forward. But what the left needs to understand is that the silent majority is actually social conservatives.

These are people who will watch TV and say "that was bad" and do nothing. They will never rise up, they will never come forward and they will never do anything because they are just too scared. These are the people who will constantly do whatever it takes to protect the status quo instead of speaking out and taking a stand. So calling this majority out is useless. The liberal left themselves, simply take pride in tweeting and writing feel good stuff. But the thing is, just saying things should get better will not make them better.

So, while the Hazara people like many other minorities count their dead the rest of us will move on and forget.
WRITTEN BY:
Adnan Rasool Currently the Deputy Executive Director Center for Enterprise, Trade and Development, Adnan is also a political analyst working mainly on electoral politics and political campaign management. He tweets at @adnanrasool
The views expressed by the writer and the reader comments do not necassarily reflect the views and policies of the Express Tribune.

COMMENTS (153)

alifti | 12 years ago | Reply I feel that any body who does not condemn it is a supporter of terrorism ( active or Passive). The state agencies have shown criminal negligence.
0m3r | 12 years ago | Reply I'm one of those inhumane people you are talking about. You are right these killings and numerous other incidents that I read and hear about have become kind of a routine for me. Its not that these killings don't bother me, its just that I have come to believe that I can't do anything about it. I'm not a leader, I don't have the power to inspire people, I can't even write like you and I'm truly scared but I'm ready to support the one who can inspire me, give me hope again. Can you be that leader or are you also waiting for the one who may never come?
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