COLUMN
By RC Ganjoo
The genocide of 11 persons of the Hazara Shia community on January 3 in Balochistan has further been established that Pakistan’s army and its intelligence agency ISI, with latent and patent support to terrorist groups continue to operate with definite design.
ISIS terrorist group claimed responsibility for the killing of Hazara Shia.
The world community has condemned the gruesome killing of Hazara Shia. The Baloch Republican Party has said that Imran Khan Government is deliberately turning a deaf ear to the voices of Balochs, Hazaras, Sindhis, and minorities.
BRP spokesperson Sher Mohammad Bugti said in a tweet that the latest case of the brutal killing of 11 Hazaras is another testimony to the lawlessness and persecution of minorities in Pakistan. According to the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, the targeting killing of Shia Hazara is one of the most violent and persistent persecutions on account of religious belief.
Quetta, the capital of Balochistan is called “Hell on Earth”.
Questions have been raised against Pakistan which would remain unanswered. Why political, military and judicial leadership keep watching silently the systematic genocide of minorities there
Why counter-terrorism efforts have never specifically focused on terrorist organisations like as Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistan (SSP), Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LeJ), and Ahl-e-Sunnat Wal Jamaat (ASWJ)? Why are militant leaders, who openly propagate the killings of Shias, are allowed to actively participate in the public and national discourse? Why have the madrassas and organisations that actively incite hatred against Shias, been encouraged in Karachi? Why the leaders of such organisations given political protection in Punjab?
The LeJ operating from Afghanistan openly issues death threats to Hazaras through newspaper and describes them as wajib-ul-qatl (deserving of death).
Watching frequent political, religion onslaught on them, Shia Muslims also formed Majlis Wahdat-e-Muslimeen (MWM) on August 2, 2009 in Islamabad. It is popular among Shia Muslims in the Punjab, Sindh, Khyber Pukhtunkhwa, Baluchistan, Gilgit-Baltistan and in PoK. The main purpose of MWM is to speak against the oppression of Pakistan against the Shia community, raise political and religious awareness among Shia, and to revive the teachings of the Quran and Muhammad in the society.
In`2013, MWM was recognised as a political party by Election Commission of Pakistan. Majlis Wahdat-e-Muslimeen was the first religio-political organisation that supported Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf in the general elections. They won one seat in GB national assembly, Sunni-based, Pakistan Awami Tehreek, Sunni Ittehad Council and Jamiat Ulema-e-Pakistan are supporters of Shia based Majlis Wahdat-e-Muslimeen. All of them are on one platform against Pakistani Taliban and its sub-groups Sipah-e-Sahaba and Lashkar-e-Jhangvi. WMW vote strength is always in need in support of respective political party to win.
Commenting upon Hazara killing, Rana Iibrar Khalid, a journalist in Islamabad who has been watching Balochistan keenly, told this journalist that ISI and Pak Army has been in addiction of manufacturing political parties or terrorist groups to keep the government in presence always on tenterhook. He said, when Pakistan army started its notorious ‘kill and dump’ policy in Balochistan in 2008, it spotted a Shafiq Mengal and tasked to aid state forces in the abduction of Baloch activists and to create safe passage for Army convoys in remote volatile areas. With the increasing momentum in Baloch struggle, the Pakistani Army responded by arming the local militias and Shafeeq Mengal became a key player.
With the support of ISI and Pak Army, Shafeeq Mengal built relationships with the Afghan Taliban and made himself a known leader of a sectarian outfit, Lashkar i Jhangvi. Under the supervision of ISI, the fighters of so-called Islamic State and sectarian terrorists Lashkar Jhangvi Al-Almi were trained in training camps in Wadh. Everybody knew Shafeeq Mengal who has become a dangerous man for this region, Mir Shafiq Ur Rehman Mengal, popularly known as Shafiq Mengal formed the militant organization Difa-e-Balochistan, which is involved in mass murders.
He contested the Provincial election as an independent candidate and lost. His allies, however, were none other than the National Party (NP) of Mir Hasil Khan Bizenjo. Known as a merchant of terror in Balochistan, Shafiq Mengal, has been involved in the killing of Hazara Shia. The nationalist parties in Balochistan wanted his immediate arrest. But he is in hand in glove with Balochistan Chief Minister Jain Kamal Khan 0f Balochistan Awami Party.
