Shehzada Zulfiqar- Quetta
One should ascertain the reality on ground before commenting on as sensitive an issue as the killing ten Hazara Shia Muslims in Mach, Balochistan. Out of the 10 martyred, seven were Afghan nationals who were illegally living in Pakistan. Only three belonged to the Pakistani Hazara community. Afghan President Ashraf Ghani has already asked for the dead bodies of the Afghan nationals. But it is a fact that hundreds of thousands of Afghans – Hazaras Shias, Pashtoon, Uzbeks and Tajiks – are living illegally in Pakistan for decades.
One glaring example was Raza Wakeel, the Hazara Democratic Party (HDP) candidate who got elected in the 2018 elections but his results were later withheld because of the revelation that he was an Afghan refugee. Eventually his victory was annulled leading to by-elections to his constituency.
Precisely this has been a moot point for the ethnic Pashtoon Pashtunkhawa Milli Awami Party (PKMAP) and Jamiat Ulema-e Islam Pakistan (JUI-F); they claim scores of Afghans have acquired Pakistani National ID cards but are now lobbying for them to expand their own vote bank. Members of Afghan Hazara groups also did the same. But once many of them fell under the radar of the Pakistani authorities, their IS cards were blocked by NADRA – National Data Registration Authority – for want of proof of being Pakistani. This is why all dead bodies were laid to rest despite Afghan government’s request to hand over the bodies of Afghans for burial in Afghanistan.
Earlier, there was also the issue of compensation which the government pays under a procedure, like bank account and ID cards. Previously, many victims of suicide attacks or target killings did have ID cards, so they were paid in cash after the provincial government relaxed all rules and regulations in the wake of their protest.
Moreover, neither Balochistan Shia conference nor Hazara Tribal Jirga, Ulema Council or HDP supported the latest Quetta sit-in. On the first day of incident, the four above-mentioned groups and Majlis Wahdat-e-Muslimeen (MWM) decided on January 3, 2021 that the dead bodies would be laid to rest, but in the early hours of January 4, 2021, MWM activists – mysteriously decided to shift the bodies to Western Bypass road and started protesting.
Only Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) aligned with MWM and former MPA Agha Raza tried to use the latest incident to get all illegal Afghan immigrants Pakistani nationality. JUI-F, PKMAP and Hazara groups are constantly trying to keep their vote bank (Afghan refugees) intact.
One thing that should be investigated is that MWM is asking for details about their missing persons. But the question is who they actually are? Are they being held by Pakistani authorities or are they part of those who were either sent or gone on their own to Syria as Zanobian volunteers (for the war in Syria and Iraq) . This incident has made putting out the list of these missing persons, whether Afghans or Pakistanis – a need of the hour.
We, as a nation, have become shortsighted and emotional and don’t have the capacity to see the things in totality. I’m not trying to label them all as blackmailers but certainly shortsighted. The nation, including armed forces, have suffered innumerable casualties. The last incident claimed lives of 14 Frontier Corps members in Harnai, Balochistan but hardly did any one of those sympathized who have been crying hoarse and condemning PM Imran Khan for not visiting the 11 dead – including eight Afghans.
People of Hazara have been chanting slogans which imply as if officials have killed these 11 innocent Hazaras, but then who is to blame for the killings of 14 FC members in the same vicinity just 12 days ago?
