Muharram is here - today is 9th Muharram in Pakistan. This means the start of that familiar cycle again, of an upsurge in Sunni extremists targeting Shias, and then Shia reprisals against Sunnis. The government has predictably called in extra police and other security personnel. (Side note: how do governments manage to round up so many "extra" police for such occasions? I'm thinking of this also because of my most recent experience in the antiwar protest.)
I know it's tempting to be nostalgic about one's childhood, but I really do believe that the Sunni-Shia problem did not exist in this fashion before the 1980s. That was when the effects of the Iranian revolution and the Saudi Wahabi-Zia nexus were starting to be felt. In fact, I think of Zia and the 1980s as the time when everything changed, when it all truly fell apart. Yes, I know there were problems, really big and awful problems, but the problems were different. I don't think the Sunni-Shia rift was as keen and meaningful, and it was certainly not as militarized. Now we're living with the legacy of the Saudi-Iranian proxy war that was fought in Pakistan - perhaps it's still being fought, although one would guess that the active battlefield is now Iraq and not Pakistan.
But we're still left with the legacy, as we are with all of Zia's evil. Everyone likes to point to the government and to various Sunni and Shia extremist outfits and place blame there - and certainly they have the lion's share of culpability. But we must also bear responsibility. I think it's become just too commonplace to now ascribe all sorts of qualities and behaviors to "Sunni-ness" and "Shia-ness" - and we need to stop doing that. So the next time you hear someone say, "Shias aren't real Muslims," or "Shias are more loyal to Iran than to Pakistan," or any of the other crap that slips into everyday conversation, call the person on it. Refuse to accept such absurd statements. Let's stop this bullshit one bullshitter at a time.
I know it's tempting to be nostalgic about one's childhood, but I really do believe that the Sunni-Shia problem did not exist in this fashion before the 1980s. That was when the effects of the Iranian revolution and the Saudi Wahabi-Zia nexus were starting to be felt. In fact, I think of Zia and the 1980s as the time when everything changed, when it all truly fell apart. Yes, I know there were problems, really big and awful problems, but the problems were different. I don't think the Sunni-Shia rift was as keen and meaningful, and it was certainly not as militarized. Now we're living with the legacy of the Saudi-Iranian proxy war that was fought in Pakistan - perhaps it's still being fought, although one would guess that the active battlefield is now Iraq and not Pakistan.
But we're still left with the legacy, as we are with all of Zia's evil. Everyone likes to point to the government and to various Sunni and Shia extremist outfits and place blame there - and certainly they have the lion's share of culpability. But we must also bear responsibility. I think it's become just too commonplace to now ascribe all sorts of qualities and behaviors to "Sunni-ness" and "Shia-ness" - and we need to stop doing that. So the next time you hear someone say, "Shias aren't real Muslims," or "Shias are more loyal to Iran than to Pakistan," or any of the other crap that slips into everyday conversation, call the person on it. Refuse to accept such absurd statements. Let's stop this bullshit one bullshitter at a time.
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