My research points towards a harrowing truth – “Shia genocide is ongoing in Pakistan and given the apostatizing Deobandi theological foundations, it will go on”

Militant Deobandi groups are slaughtering the Shia community. It has to be kept in mind that despite being killed brutally, most of Pakistanis including NGO’s, human rights activists and media organizations are still in a state denial where Shia Genocide is concerned

Literature on Shia genocide is nearly non-existent. It is till widely believed that Shias are not being killed for their identity, rather these killings are just random and lacking the “systematic element” or the number of killings is too low for it to qualify as genocide.

LeJ’s famous fatwa: “All Shia are worthy of killing. We will rid Pakistan of unclean people. Pakistan means land of the pure and the Shia have no right to live in this country. We have the edict and the signatures of revered scholars, declaring Shia infidels.

Just as our fighters have waged a successful Jihad against the Shia Hazara in Afghanistan, our mission in Pakistan is the abolition of this impure sect and its followers from every city, every village, and every nook and corner of Pakistan.

As in the past, our successful jihad against the Hazara in Pakistan and, in particular, in Quetta is ongoing and will continue on the future. We will make Pakistan the graveyard of the Shia Hazara in Pakistan and their houses will be destroyed by bombs and suicide bombers.

We will only rest when we will be able to fly the flag of true slam on this land of pure. Jihad against the Shia Hazara has now become our duty.”

“Maulana” Aurangzeb Farooqi once addressed a crowd where he
lambasted the Shia majority Iran and justified the pro-Salafist policies of Sunni majority Saudi Arabia. He urged the Muslims to escape the evil of Shia infidels’ and support Sipah-e-Sahaba

They spread the conviction that Islam is under threat by the heretic beliefs of Shias and the onus of saving Islam lies with these groups – the soldiers of LeJ and SSP

It is important to use the term genocide as opposed to sectarian conflict when analyzing the mass violence targeting Shias. Using the lens of sectarian conflict to understand these systematic attacks would be too simplistic

The Deobandi anthem – Infidels Infidels, Shias are infidels- embodies the bigoted prejudice against Shias that has prevailed and thrived for decades in the framework of certain sections of Pakistani society.

It not only encourages the persecution against Shias but it also claims to provide an ideological basis for the exclusivist agenda of LeJ and SSP.

The State has always turned a blind eye to Shia killings ensuring anti Shia elements to run like well-oiled machines and making Shias lives miserable

A 2012 survey conducted by the Pew Research Center showed that 41% of Pakistani Sunnis did not consider Shias Muslim

When examining the evidence of violence directed against the minority Shia group, the perpetrator’s intention to target both the physical body and social vitality of the victim group is quite clear and obvious.

The Pakistani state, inarguably, has been largely unsuccessful with regard to its responsibility to provide equal opportunities to all citizens of the country and

has not been able to institutionalize a just and equitable social order that refrains from discriminating against groups that do not conform to the state-sanctioned religious dogma.

The state established the Sunni variant of Islam as a permanent feature of its national identity, which continues to cause sectarian tension and conflict, hence it is imperative that the state promote an all-encompassing value system

to rectify the crisis of governance that has had an adverse impact on social relationships and fuelled hatred against groups that have a more heterodox approach to religion.

The End.