Recent attacks on Shias have resulted in numerous deaths in Pakistan and Iraq. Hundreds more are wounded physically and thousands more emotionally. The agony of friends and relatives is heart wrenching.Such intolerance is just the latest in a round of wanton killings that have become common place in Pakistan. Without democratic give and take, the norms are to kill those with whom one disagrees in religion or politics. Hindus were persecuted regularly. The current goodwill towards the Indians fans and the cricket team is indeed a very good omen of things changing.In Iraq, the justification is to create conditions untenable for the hated Americans. The internal gyroscope of humanity and religious piety should kick in and completely rule out evil means, no matter how worthy the cause. Fortunately, Shia and Sunni clerics have jointly denounced this evil. Murderous intolerance is even more repulsive when it is done in the name of religion, justified by the demented minds of some of its followers. This perversity of belief must be opposed. Opposition springing from within the community is more effective and conducive to thoughtful change.Such heinous forces, if not expunged from inside the community, bring pressure from outside. Giving excuses to ruffians to take shelter in debased nationalism and blame it on the real or imagined enemies from outside. Often it only helps to advance the agenda of those outside forces that are malicious towards Islam for their own vile reasons. These murderers are the enemies within, that caricaturise a great religion and inadvertently help the enemies without.In public discourse we never tire of pointing out that Islam stands for peace and compassion. Which it does. But when extreme becomes common the normative base of the society is severely injured. Such perversity must be opposed by a civil society, especially one that claims a moral high ground.Self-criticism is always painful, it is time to feel and welcome such pain. Most of us have genuinely felt the anguish of riots in India against Muslims and the open season on Islam in the west. All of them pale compared to the self-destructive plot these vulgar perpetrators hatch in the name of religion. They only succeed in trawling it through the mud and bringing shame to those who labour towards the ideal of humanity.It is time for Muslims all over the world to denounce discriminations against minorities in Muslim countries. In the last couple of decades fascism has found a home in religious extremists all over the world including the US, India and Muslim countries. Those who do not stand up against such forces in their communities or find reactionary justifications for them are at best unwitting enablers and at worst stealthy helpers.When others practice mayhem against Muslims we resist. When Muslims do it, we need to fight even harder in the name of Islam, humanity, and decency.
