Wednesday, May 08, 2013

Shia, Ahmadi, Hindu?

What happened to Hindus and Christians is unsurprising. But it is the Shias and Ahmadis who are shocked. Shias, about 20 per cent of the population, have been picked out-Gestapo style. Last year, men in army uniforms stopped four buses bound from Rawalpindi to Gilgit, demanding that all 117 persons on board alight and show their national identification cards. Those with typical Shia names, like Abbas and Jafri, were separated. Minutes later 46 corpses lay on the ground.
But while Shias are numerous enough to put up at least the pretense of a defence, Ahmadis are not. Forbidden from calling themselves Muslims, Ahmadi children are expelled from school once their religion is discovered. Just a hint may be enough to destroy a career.
Pervez Hoodbhoy: Shia, Ahmadi, Hindu? Then Run for Your Life

2 comments:

Jatin said...

We spent a day in Dubai on way back to US from India in February. A shia lady we met at the hotel told us horrific details of their life in Pakistan and how they are leaving Pakistan at any opportunity they can. She herself was going to Europe to meet her fiance and settle there eventually. She preferred to spend time with us even though there were folks from her country in our group.

Brownian Motion said...

Of course this wretch has to end with "Partition can never be undone, although RSS extremists dream of it. But to be viable, Pakistan will have to reimagine itself as a state that treats all its citizens equally and curb its enthusiasm for jihad. This is not impossible, and India can help Pakistan achieve this by moderating its rhetoric and improving relations. This will go a long way towards decreasing the influence of Pakistan's militant Islamists."

A kick at the RSS and a demand that India "moderate its rhetoric" and "improve relations". Forgotten is the fact that there's pretty much no rhetoric from India and the Dhimmis in Delhi are forever begging to improve relations. Of course what he really means is "if only India would hand over Kashmir".