Sectarian drive is on in Karachi

The latest killing of religious scholar Aslam Sheikhupuri, the drive-by shooting, is apparently part of larger plot to add a sectarian hue to the ongoing ethnic chaos in the country’s financial hub.

Earlier, the killing of two Sunnis added fuel to the Sheikhupuri’s murder. The nature of recent incident is quite worrisome and demanded the authorities to use all available resources to track down the assailants before they disappear completely.

However, it constituted an investigation team with the mandate to submit a report within three days. They should keep in mind that the incident could spark off sectarian violence in the troubled city.

The assassination of a religious leader, of whatsoever ideological influence, is demanded expeditions nabbing and prosecution of the culprits before it generates yet another round of tit-for-tat cycle of wave in the highly charged ambience of Karachi.

The protest staged by annoyed supporters of the deceased leader outside the hospital where he was rushed urged the need for timely action by the provincial government to probe the case at the earliest.

The latest incident of killing, if we see in the wider context, represents the reversal of the late 1990s tide of sectarian violence, in which unidentified killed hundreds of Shias across the country.

Following the massacre, they crossed the Pak-Afghan border to enjoy hospitality of the Taliban regime. Hence, countless murderers had escaped the punishment they richly deserved. Ethnicity and sectarianism are the blights that have eaten away at Karachi’s social fabric.

Karachi has become a house divided against itself for far too long while religious seminaries do serve as free boarding and lodging centers of learning for the poor persons.

However, these should never be allowed to be exploited by those funding or running them to achieve their hidden motives and divisive agendas.

Sarcastically, the roots of denominationalism in Pakistan lie outside the country, with foreign funding of seminaries being a major means of cowering propaganda.

There is, as a result, a need for stricter, but absolutely transparent, oversight of all such foreign-funded institutions.

Short URL: https://www.newspakistan.pk/?p=22358

Posted by Faisal Farooq on May 15 2012. Filed under Opinion, Pakistan, Society. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.