8/3/2019 Were Those Not Humans who were Killed? Were Those Not
Humans who were Killed?
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Were Those Not Humans who were Killed?
By Madiha Ishtiaque
1, Feb 2012
Hath not a Jew hands, organs, dimensions, senses, affections,
passions? Fed withthe same food, hurt with the same weapons,
subject to the same diseases, healedby 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 you 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 Merchant of Venice with all the bitterness and
hatred words can contain, only allowed me to draw parallels between
the discrimination and bias in the 17th century English society
against the Jews and the sectarian fanaticism clutching our society
since forever. Is it hard for anyone here to conjure up a perennial
list of 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 own brothers. Forget about the noble ideals of
brotherhood and solidarity, religious fanaticism has even crucified
our basic humanity, which accounts a great deal for the recent
barbaric killings in Karachi.
The rise of the unrest in Karachi this week is only a precursor
of the humanitarian disaster in the weeks to come. Beginning with
Ahle-Sunnats wal Jammats legal advisor and Party activists murder,
followed by the vicious killing of the three lawyers and the Former
Trustee of a local Imam Bargah, to a couple of Sunnis associated
with Jamat-e-Islami yesterday, what is building up and gaining
momentum is an avalanche of sectarian violence. However, cant we
all figure out a common denominator in all these killings?
Political affiliations. Isnt, like everything else, religion, in
this part of the world, is also ruled by political forces. Where
history tells that religion has always been employed as a tool to
achieve rapacious political ends by power-greedy forces, it is a
phenomenon that continues to dominate us even now and will continue
to do so.
Since I dont believe in evaluating human losses through
inanimate statistics, I feel 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 yesterday only. With him, was murdered, not only a
qualified doctor of high credentialsbut also a man who had devoted
his life for the welfare of his people, not to mention a father, a
son, and a husband. What reason a person with even a half-decent
hair of head can give for such a beastly act? Was his or anyone
elses religious 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 restraint or stopping.
However, where I also believe that its more than just a case of
fanaticism, and this bloody artwork has a dominant political colour
to it, our crooked and perverted 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 should be exterminated and done with? Are we
seeking to homogenize our society and this world, which is clearly
not how its meant to be? If yes, we should prepare ourselves to be
the first ones to have our existence erased from the face of the
earth. 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 teach me I will execute. My sympathies here are not
with a particular sect or community; its with us all, because when
the blood is spilled, its Ours, whether a Shiais killed or a
Sunni.
