Hazara Town Bloodied Yet Again

Hazara Town Bloodied Yet Again
Hazara Town, Quetta – July 30, 2013
Author: Hasan Riza Changezi
Translation: Mohammad Younas / Abbas Changezi

Sunday June 30, 8:00 PM

Residents of Hazara Town are enjoying the breezy evening of Quetta city after going through a very tough day under the scorching heat of the sun. Men are out for a stroll while women are busy shopping for necessities and they are haggling with the shop owners to get the best bargain. Children in the meantime are holding their mothers’ hands and they are pushing them to buy their favorite meals for tomorrow’s lunch at school. In the nearby mosque, the evening prayer is about to end where hundreds of kafirs [1] are facing Ka’aba in the state of prostrating to Allah—God.
Meanwhile, a clean dressed Muslim with a whiff of Halal [2] cologne, wearing a Sulemani Topi [3], passes through the check post guarded by Farishthay [4] without being detected. The noorani [5] face heads towards the Hazara Town, where Hazara kafirs dwell in. He gets closer to the mosque. His intention is clear—to send all Hazara Shias to hell. His heart is beating anxiously. He seems fully prepared to go to the heaven at earliest possible where in his thoughts, 72 Hurs [6] —“virgins” of paradise—have opened their arms to warmly welcome him with garlands in their hands to go around his neck.
This is a translation of a beautifully written Urdu article by Hasan Riza Changezi regarding the AlQaeda affiliated Lashkar-e Jhangvi terrorist attack targeting Hazara Town on June 30, 2013. The original Urdu version of the article captures the before and after scenes of the terrorist attack from a Hazara point of view. An edited version of the article in Urdu was published by the Dawn News.
Please bear in mind that room for translation mistakes exist given the very delicate and complex nature of this article in Urdu. When quoting the author, please only refer to the original article in Urdu.
Thinking of an erotic heaven in his mind, he chants out loudly Allah-o Akbar—God is great—and detonates his suicide vest which further on leaves dozens of holes in the bodies of the kafir mothers busy shopping with their kafirchildren. All that remains of the children in their mothers’ hands are their little fingers. Shattered bodies of the men strolling earlier can be seen laying across the blast scene. The kafirs who were praying in the mosque rush outside where they find nothing but the dead bodies laying across and walls painted with the red blood.
Soon after the blast, the government and the security establishment officials rush to the blast scene to count the “hell bound” dead bodies and to assess the success of the attack by their own Jihadi angel —“holy warrior”.
The people of Hazara town on the other hand also hasten to the blast scene and start taking the dead and the injured to Bolan Medical College (BMC) hospital where they find locks on the doors of the doctors and paramedics. The dead bodies are left laying on the hospital floor while the distraught loved ones start running in the hospital to find any doctor or medical staff but all in vain. Afterwards, the dead bodies of those killed and injured are taken to other hospitals around seven kilometers away from the blast scene.
Home Secretary later on, issues an official statement claiming the Security Staff failed to stop the noorani faced Muslim man who was wearing a Burqa [7].
It’s worth mentioning that Hazara Town’s females don’t put Burqa on and the Home Secretary knows it well but it remains unknown why he claimed so. Hazara women instead wear a sarong type wrap known as “chadar Namaz” which is totally different from Burqa. It ,therefore, defies reason to suggest that a burqa-clad man could have passed through many check-posts as a woman unless somehow he flew past them using his angel-wings.
Contradicting the Home Secretary’s statement, the honorable Quetta City Police Chief (CCPO), Mir Zubair suggests that the assailant was an ethnic Uzbek—that has similar Asiatic features like Hazaras. According to CCPO, an Uzbek was on a bicycle peddling in search of heaven. The purpose of CCPO’s statement is to hide the obvious by creating a “reasonable doubt” that our Muslim-attacker only succeeded in getting to the Hazaras because of similar features. However, pictures shared on Facebook showing the severed head of the Jihadi Muslim clearly shows he is either from Balochistan or from the “sacred-land” of South Punjab.
Visible from the picture, the trickling blood out of the severed-head of the so-called “martyr” suicide bomber can be seen with one eye closed as if he was trying to wink at the heavenly-virgins, while the other open eye gives a mixed impression of surprise and distraught which is usually seen when someone makes a stop at a wrong station.
Monday, July 1, 2:00 PM
A stage is set at Hazara town. A large number of people, including women and children have gathered. They are watching the action-replay of the event that has been ongoing for years. They have seen this—time and again—but forced themselves to see it over again.
Political leaders are preparing their speeches while women are mourning and crying as if somehow they could hold on to their loved ones from going 6-feet under. Spirited religious slogans can also be heard loudly showing their desire to achieve martyrdom.
People are waiting for their leaders. They are 100% sure that once again there will be an announcement of a sit-in protest like they had after Jan 10 and Feb 16 attacks this year. Many are hoping that once again demands for handing Quetta over to the army and targeted operation against Lashkar-e Jhangvi (LeJ) will be raised.
Hazaras are also expecting religious leaders from Punjab to come forward and make fiery speeches as they did after Jan 10 and Feb 16 attacks and will force the government to implement Governor’s rule in Balochistan.
But what! the so-called religious leaders came up with their stereo-typed speeches urging people to get united, value of achieving martyrdom and their place in heaven, declaring that the suicide bomber is destined for hell, praying to Allah to grant patience to victims’ loved ones giving example of martyrdom of baby Ali Asghar (AS) and young Ali Akbar (AS).
Those speaking of their desire for martyrdom were found standing among the armed guards. Soon many realize that there are no more situations like beforeelection. It’s 1st of July 2013 and it’s been over one month since elections are gone. Those who previously demanded to hand over Quetta to the Army are themselves part of the new provincial government and expecting some kind of ministerial position in the provincial cabinet. Therefore, they cannot ill afford to make difficult demands or prolong the protest debate. In any case, the deaths of some poor and backward Hazaras could not really be that important for which their future interests are jeopardized. Therefore, after the mandatory prayer for the deceased, bodies of each kafir is brought in the coffin draped with shawls laced with Quranic verses and quietly laid to rest.
Like always, the banned sectarian outfit LeJ gleefully accepts responsibility for the attack and reaffirms its resolve to continue attacks till the establishment of The Islamic Caliphate is restored in Islamic Republic of Pakistan. From its statement, one feels that Hazaras are the only hurdle standing in the way of their “sacred mission” and therefore by finishing them, they are securing their rightful place in heaven.
On the other hand, people are dumb founded on why the Government has utterly failed to restore order even when there are check points every step of the way all over the city? Citizens have been demanding for a while that instead of “putting people in the walls” and standing check point every step of the way, why not go after terrorist safe heavens? And why not make an honest effort to arrest the terrorist and bring them to justice? Such efforts would surely bring positive results in the fight against terrorism in a small city such as Quetta where ethnic divisions makes it a challenging environment for terrorism to take root. But people are also mindful that government and security agencies would have dismantled the terrorist network if they wanted to, since they know every single one of their safe heavens.
There is a need for Chief Minister of Balochistan Dr. Malik, to come up with a clear policy towards terrorism in order to stop the ongoing genocide of Hazaras happening in the guise of sectarianism; to tell public the real intentions of the terrorist and reveal identities of those behind the terrorist outfits; to speak with the nation states that are posing as Pakistan’s friends—Saudi, UAE, Qatar, Iran—and warn them against conducting their proxy wars in Balochistan and using Hazara nation as the fuel for their proxy war. Just like all citizens of Balochistan, the Hazaras expect Dr. Malik will raise the issue of peace in Balochistan in every forum possible. And the citizens rightfully expect that Dr. Malik will not let them down.
Footnote:
1. Kafirs — A term commonly used by Deobandi and Salafi militant organizations for Shias to mean an “infidel”
2. Halal — Arabic word, which means allowed in Islam
3. Sulemani Cap – A magical cap which makes the one wearing invisible, however it is also a religious image
4. Farishthay — Locally know for Pakistan Army or Army establishment
5. Noorani — Muslim: from a personal name based on Persian nūrānī ‘luminous’, ‘bright’, a derivative of Arabic nūr ‘light’
6. Hurs — Virgins of paradise
7. Burqa – A loose garment covering the entire body and having a veiled opening for the eyes, worn by conservative Muslim women
This article was originally published on Hazara.Net