IN the 1993 movie, Bill Murray plays Phil Connors, a reporter who finds himself in a time loop in a small American town celebrating Groundhog Day.
Each day is identical to the last one, and attempts to leave result only in waking up yet again in the same hotel room to the sounds of ‘I’ve Got You Babe’ by Sonny and Cher.
So, too, in Pakistan: each day brings news of a fresh atrocity, and we go through the identical motions that follow each barbaric act.
There are the graphic images on our TV screens, the breathless interviews, the condemnations, and the familiar expressions of anguish.
These are followed by the government’s pledge to protect the community most recently targeted, the setting up of an inquiry commission and the transfer of a few cops.
As these horrors pile up, the most recent one buries earlier killings, except for the family and friends of the victims.
I was going to focus exclusively on the recent ordeal of the Christians of Joseph Colony, but then came the numbing news of Perween Rahman’s brutal murder. For this brave, dedicated woman to be gunned down in cold blood is a tragedy beyond words.
But while Perween’s shooting could probably not have been prevented, the attack on the hapless Christians in Lahore certainly could. Many previous attacks on Christians have been accompanied by arson and looting. It seems the faithful are just itching to grab possessions and land belonging to oppressed minorities, and burn what they can’t carry away.
One Christian, in a call to a TV chat show host, demanded that those arrested for torching two churches in the area, together with many copies of the Bible and other holy objects, be tried for blasphemy. This is only fair. If non-Muslims can be subjected to our unforgiving blasphemy law without a scrap of evidence except somebody’s say-so, surely there is a case to be made to try Muslims for the desecration of another faith’s holy icons and books.
Indeed, this is a test for the PML-N government in Punjab. Considering that other similar attacks have taken place on its watch, it needs to prove that it is not supporting extremists, as many critics accuse it of doing. After the Gojra incident in 2009 in which eight Christians were killed and over 100 houses burnt, not one of the mob of extremists who carried out the attack has been convicted.
Despite chief minister Shahbaz Sharif’s pledge to the victims that those guilty for the massacre would be punished, nobody was prosecuted. And although the inquiry committee recommended action against the police officials guilty of gross negligence tantamount to collusion, nothing was done.
And this is what happens in Groundhog Day: here we are, four years later, witnessing a replay in Lahore just because the Punjab government took no action after the Gojra tragedy.
It’s not just incompetence on the part of our rulers, but the cynical calculus that the minorities are too helpless to bother about.On the other hand, the extremists are armed and dangerous, and their millions of supporters constitute a huge voting block.
One reason this murderous cycle never ends is that we believe that people are being slaughtered because it is God’s will. “Allah ki marzi”, is an expression you hear at every funeral, whether the deceased died due to an incurable illness, a doctor’s neglect or an assassin’s bullet. This fatalism prevents the build-up of anger that’s so necessary to bring about change.
Another reason why terrorists who slaughter in the name of Islam have a free ride is that there is a misplaced notion that they are motivated by religious fervour. The conventional wisdom suggests that rather than fight, we ought to talk to them to convince them of the error of their ways. Good luck with that. The killers have always used these respites to rearm and reorganise.
While the majority mull over how low to bow before the Taliban, Shias, Christians, Hindus and Ahmadis keep getting killed in increasing numbers. Although many have been forced to seek shelter in less hostile societies, millions are stuck here at the mercy of an unkind and violent majority.
So how should the minorities protect themselves when the state won’t? The Christians of Joseph Colony and Gojra are hardly likely to form armed militias to defend their homes. Despite their anger, these are peaceful people who, in any case, cannot afford to buy guns. And the truth is that at the slightest sign of armed resistance, they are likely to be butchered.
The Shias have hit back on occasion, but they are hopelessly outnumbered and outgunned. The Hindus and Ahmadis, too, are unlikely to take up arms. So what’s the answer? Perhaps they should be given land where they can set up their own state and live in peace.
Before you dismiss this suggestion as outlandish, recall the precedents: Pakistan was carved out of India because Muslims felt insecure under majority Hindu rule. And East Pakistan seceded because Bengalis could no longer stand being bullied by West Pakistani Muslims. Why then should non-Muslim Pakistanis not demand a state of their own?
Okay, I know this is unlikely to happen any time soon. My point is that in an increasingly fanatical country, anybody not subscribing to the majority strain of Islam is under threat. The space for different beliefs and schools of thought is being rapidly squeezed by shrill and violent fundamentalists, supported by elements in the media.
As the mayhem continues, we are caught up in a time loop straight out of Groundhog Day. But instead of a Sonny and Cher song, we wake to the sound of explosions and gunshots.
The writer is the author of Fatal Faultlines: Pakistan, Islam and the West.