Shia life in Peshawar: from harmony to horror

by Fattu Lohar

The Shia communities in almost every major city in Pakistan have a story of pain and grief to tell. Peshawar is no exception. But the gloom and doom wasn’t there always. Peshawar is perhaps that oldest living city in the subcontinent that has celebrated diversity for ages. Hindkowans, Pashtuns, Farsibans – both of Afghan and Persian descent- , Urdu speakers and even a few Uzbek families have lived in harmony in Peshawar, especially inside the old walled city, for ages. Besides the ethnic and linguistic diversity the Peshawar city also had boasted of religious pluralism. From Eid-e-Milad-un-Nabi PBUH processions, the Giyarhveen Shareef, the Nauroz – the Persian new year- festivities to the Muharram commemoration the city’s Sunni Barelvis, Sufis and the Shia were together in everything. The Muharram tradition of Peshawar is hundreds of years old with several large and small Imambargahs dotting the old city and the large Sunni population of the city lending a helping hand to the caretakers of these Shia worship sites and indeed with the logistics of the Muharram processions. But things do seem to be changing. Last week a Shia street vendor named Ali Akbar Mir was shot pointblank and killed. He wasn’t exactly the caretaker of the Imambargah Razi Shah as reported in sections of the media but eked out living selling odds and ends close to that Imambargah. Reportedly, Mir was taunted by a neighboring vendor who disparaged the Shia rituals especially the Dhuljanah – the horse representing Hussain’s loyal steed at the Shia processions. A day or so later Mir was killed by unknown assailants. He is survived by two children. His wife – a Sunni – had died years ago trying to rescue one of their children from a drowning in a river where they had gone picnicking. Mir’s is not the only family with Shia-Sunni intermarriage in Peshawar. Scores of clans in Peshawar are what they describe themselves as ‘mixed Shia-Sunni’ families. Mir’s was neither the first targeted killing of a Shia in Peshawar nor, sadly, will it be the last. In fact, one the most high profile Shia leader ever assassinated was Maulana Arif Hussain al-Hussaini who was murdered at his seminary in Peshawar in August 1988. While Arif al-Hussaini was a politico-religious leader the overwhelming majority of the Shia target killed in Peshawar since 1988 has been apolitical – and mostly professional – people. From the AIG Farooq Haider – son of a scion of Pakistan movement, Sardar Ali ‘Baba’ – a banker, Safdar Abbas – a teacher, Sardar Mumtaz – retired government servant to more recently the physicians Riaz Hussain and Shahnawaz Ali and human rights activist and lawyer Malik Jarrar Hussain and SP Hilal Haider, over 30 Shia have been killed in Peshawar. In many cases the next of kin filed FIRs and pursued the cases as well but not a single perpetrator has been apprehended let alone tried and sentenced. In the wake of the bombings on Shia Hazara of Quetta the Peshawar Shia remain especially apprehensive that a bigger, more devastating attack than ‘just the target’ killings awaits them. The retain the memories of July 1992 when the armed terrorists of the Sipah-e-Sahaba (SSP) first fired upon and killed Shia men in a Muharram procession and then laid a siege to the Shia population centers in Peshawar city. The SSP terrorists also looted and burnt Shia businesses and property. Apparently a judicial inquiry was conducted but needless to say the terrorist remain at large. In fact, most of the terrorists are well-known locally and have operated under the banner of one Deobandi outfit or another but their affiliation with the SSP is not hidden. Now, with elections just around the corner some of these thugs have even managed to register with the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) as the Rah-e-Haq Party led by Maulana Ibrahim Qasmi.About two weeks ago the Shia community of Peshawar came out on the streets in a completely peaceful and solemn protest against their systematic extermination. Surprisingly, few if any of their neighbors – who they have lived in harmony with for centuries – came out to stand together with them. An honorable exception was the lawyers associations in Peshawar, who not only held protests on their own but also have extended legal help to the besieged community. Unfortunately, the plight of the Peshawar Shia has gone unnoticed and underreported even by the human rights organizations. With spineless political parties in cahoots with the SSP, an army complicit with the assorted jihadist and an election commission derelict in its duty, the Shia of Peshawar live in an anticipatory horror where they once lived in harmony. Deobandi militants of ASWJ are regularly target killing Shias in Peshawar. Mainstream media continues to ignore.