The Shia community makes up about 20-25% of the population of Pakistan, yet they have been systematically discriminated against and persecuted by state and non-state actors in multiple ways since 1947. One of the most traumatic forms of harassment they face is security agencies personnel barging into their homes at night to abduct their men and later subjecting them to physical and mental torture for years in undisclosed locations. The families of these forcibly disappeared individuals then run from pillar to post in search of their loved ones – in police stations, jails, hospitals, and even morgues – but to no avail.
The state sometimes claims that the abducted members of the community had either participated in the Syrian civil war or were involved in sectarian violence within the country. But no evidence proving their guilt is presented. The families therefore demand the right to free trial for their loved ones in a court of law if they are accused of a crime.
According to Article 10 of the Constitution of Pakistan, it is unlawful to detain any citizen for more than 24 hours without presenting them in front of a magistrate. About 50 such families of Shia missing persons across Pakistan are desperately seeking recovery of their loved ones – who have been missing for over 10 years now.
The ‘Shia Missing Persons’ movement, a collective of Shia activists and family members of the forcibly disappeared, has been relentlessly raising the issue and seeking justice for the affected families. In the past five years, their efforts include but are not limited to staging a 11-day sit-in outside the President’s House, a 28-days sit-in outside Mazar-e-Quaid in Karachi, multiple protests outside Governor House, hunger-strike by the parents of the abductees and Shia clerics surrendering themselves for arrests as a symbol of protest. Mainstream media gives little or no coverage to these protests by the community.
While a few members of the community were released in 2017 after a series of protests, several others remain in custody of security agencies. The sit-in outside the President House in 2017 proved to be the most impactful one, resulting in 17 missing persons being released with another 16 presented in courts.
The disappearance of even a single member drastically affects the entire household. Along with emotional trauma, the disappearance of the sole breadwinner of the family results in huge financial duress for the family, causing their children to drop out of schools to work and earn a living at a young age. Moreover, the health of elderly parents of the missing persons deteriorates sharply due to the trauma of awaiting the return of the disappeared. Many parents breathed their last while waiting for their sons’ recovery. The wives of these missing persons have to act like superhumans, looking after the elderly parents, young children, paying their school fees and household expenses – uncertain whether they’ve been widowed or they will get to see their husbands again.
TARGETED KILLING
Besides enforced disappearances, the members of the Shia community have also been singled out and targeted by sectarian militants in large numbers. According to a report, more than 23,000 members including notables such as lawyers, judges, police officials, doctors, engineers, bureaucrats, activists and clerics have been gunned down in numerous events of targeted killings. Bomb explosions at their places of worship, religious processions and in localities with a high population of Shias have taken the lives of innocent men, women and even children as young as six months.
The anti-Shia violence generally spreads out all across the country with most incidents taking place in Karachi, Quetta and Parachinar. The responsibility of most such attacks have been claimed by Lashkar e Jhangvi (LeJ), an offshoot of anti-Shia militant organization Sipah e Sahaba Pakistan (SSP).
Founded in the 1980s by Azam Tariq, SSP is a far-right extremist group that considers Shia Muslims infidel due to their contrasting religious beliefs from the majority sect of Sunni Muslims, and demand they be declared non-Muslim in the Constitution. Over the years, the terror outfit has campaigned proactively against the Shia sect, painting walls black with hateful graffiti, holding huge anti-Shia rallies, and their leaders inciting sectarian violence in their speeches, motivating their workers to carry out violent attacks against Shias.
BLASPHEMY CASES
Another form of persecution recently introduced by the defunct outfit is to file trumped up blasphemy cases against members of the Shia community. Activists of the outlawed outfit storm the police stations in the form of mobs to forcibly get blasphemy cases registered against Shias, merely for proclaiming their faith openly or carrying out their religious rituals. In 2020, several Shia organizers who held mourning processions in the month of Muharram had trumped up blasphemy cases registered against them – often against the entire family – over their rituals in which killers of Imam Husain are condemned.
In August 2020 alone, more than 40 blasphemy cases were registered against Shias. At times when the officer on duty showed reluctance, sectarian groups would begin violent protests across the country to pressure the authorities into registering the cases.
SSP has been named thrice in National Counter Terrorism Authority (NACTA)’s list of proscribed organizations due to its violent terror activities, but it resurfaces after changing its name and continues to operate with impunity. The SSP currently uses the name Ahle Sunnat Wal Jamaat (ASWJ) in Karachi, Sunni Raabta Committee in Sindh and Islamabad, while their leaders contest the elections under the banner of Pakistan Rah e Haq Party (PRHP). These are all different names of the same group of anti-Shia extremists.
The ability of these banned outfits to continue their activities under different names to the extent that they can even contest elections raises questions on the will of the state to protect its citizens. These anti-Shia militants are the ideological allies of Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), and with the latter’s revival, sectarian militants may also expand their operations if the state did not act against them.
The writer is a counter-extremism activist. He tweets at @asadgokal and can be reached at asad.raza940@gmail.com
