Were Those Not Humans who were Killed?

By Madiha Ishtiaque 1, Feb 2012 Hath not a Jew hands, organs, dimensions, senses, affections, passions? Fed with the same food, hurt with the same weapons, subject to the same diseases, healed by the same means, warmed and cooled by the same winter and summer as a Christi an is? If you prick us, do we not bleed? If you tickle us, do we not laugh? If y ou poison us, do we not die? And if you wrong us, shall we not revenge? Listening to a bunch of kids reading out these scathing lines from Shakespeares M erchant of Venice with all the bitterness and hatred words can contain, only all owed me to draw parallels between the discrimination and bias in the 17th centur y English society against the Jews and the sectarian fanaticism clutching our so ciety since forever. Is it hard for anyone here to conjure up a perennial list o f racial killings and acts of violence that have scarred our society for long? I bet No. Whats painfully ironic is that we do not co-exist or are up against Jew s or people practising any other religion but we are blood hungry for our very o wn brothers. Forget about the noble ideals of brotherhood and solidarity, religi ous fanaticism has even crucified our basic humanity, which accounts a great dea l for the recent barbaric killings in Karachi. The rise of the unrest in Karachi this week is only a precursor of the humanitar ian disaster in the weeks to come. Beginning with Ahle-Sunnats wal Jammats legal a dvisor and Party activists murder, followed by the vicious killing of the three l awyers and the Former Trustee of a local Imam Bargah, to a couple of Sunnis asso ciated with Jamat-e-Islami yesterday, what is building up and gaining momentum i s an avalanche of sectarian violence. However, cant we all figure out a common de nominator in all these killings? Political affiliations. Isnt, like everything el se, religion, in this part of the world, is also ruled by political forces. Wher e history tells that religion has always been employed as a tool to achieve rapa cious political ends by power-greedy forces, it is a phenomenon that continues t o dominate us even now and will continue to do so. Since I dont believe in evaluating human losses through inanimate statistics, I f eel the need to mention the murder of Dr. Ashfaq, a renowned Skin Specialist and a very cultured and nice person, at the altars of sectarian fanaticism yesterda y only. With him, was murdered, not only a qualified doctor of high credentials but also a man who had devoted his life for the welfare of his people, not to me ntion a father, a son, and a husband. What reason a person with even a half-dece nt hair of head can give for such a beastly act? Was his or anyone elses religiou s and politicians affiliations enough a reason for him to be put to death? If ye s, then we should all die fighting and killing each other with absolutely no res traint or stopping. However, where I also believe that its more than just a case of fanaticism, and t his bloody artwork has a dominant political colour to it, our crooked and perver ted religious beliefs definitely have to be one cardinal force behind it. Why is it that we think, anyone who is not like us or thinks or believes like us shoul d be exterminated and done with? Are we seeking to homogenize our society and th is world, which is clearly not how its meant to be? If yes, we should prepare our selves to be the first ones to have our existence erased from the face of the ea rth. Old saying, but goes just right, that how can one expect to sow discord and evil and reap any good? very similar to what Shylock said, The villainy you teac h me I will execute. My sympathies here are not with a particular sect or commun ity; its with us all, because when the blood is spilled, its Ours, whether a Shia is killed or a Sunni.

Source: The News, Islamabad http://www.newageislam.com/islam-and-sectarianism/madiha-ishtiaque/were-those-no t-humans-who-were-killed?/d/6626