They don't talk about breaking up Pakistan. They don't talk about a separate homeland. They only talk about their rights which non Hazara people refuse to provide them because they look different, speak different and because they are Shiite in a nation comprising largely of Sunni Muslims.
Barbarianism which has long become a trait identified with Pakistan has reached epic proportions. A couple of days ago a passenger bus carrying 20 people on board (mostly labourers going to the vegetable market to work) was attacked. 13 were killed in cold when non stop bullets were pumped into their bodies. Why you ask? Because they were Shiite Hazara people. Yup. That was their mistake.
On September 19 another similar incident took place. Another passenger bus carrying Shiite Hazara pilgrims to Iran was stopped by gunmen. 26 were slain that day.
I wonder this everyday and my soul aches for an answer but it never seems to be forthcoming. I don't understand why we have become so engrossed in our race and sects. Why we have started to identify people based on their sects, and the way they look. It pains me to see hurt strewn all across the country simply because a few people cannot bear to see a different looking person proclaim that he has a right to the Motherland.
So what if Hazaras want a separate province? We ought to remember that we have forced them up against the wall. So what if Hazaras are Shiite? The whole of Iran is Shiite and yet the Muslims of Pakistan keep reminding each other how great an Islamic nation Iran is to stand up to the USA.
I still don't understand how it went from being everyone's Pakistan to somebody's Karachi and somebody's Lahore and somebody's Quetta. Don't I have any ownership over Quetta? Am I not a Pakistani? Don't Hazaras have any ownership of Karachi because they look different? Aren't we all Pakistanis? Don't I have a right to go anywhere I please in this country? Is the answer no? Is the answer no for everyone?
It is sad. So truly sad. We have failed. People keep saying how broke this country is, but no one ever calls into question how broken this country has become. And just like that we have isolated another minority. The majority has all started cracking down into blocks of minorities. How long before each one of us becomes selfish in our aims and declares war on the very roots of Pakistan?
