The stark horror of what is happening in and around Ahmedabad must alert Pakistanis to their own reality. In India, at least, extremism can be combated by the public will.
Gujarat has been brought to its knees over the month of March. The gory developments in the state, however, do not come as a surprise. It is the naked communalism and bigotry propagated by the government at the centre over the past couple of years that has allowed extremists, who would otherwise be isolated, to engage in massacres with the patronage of local law enforcement officials. The magnitude of the killing in Gujarat, as in other incidents in the past, has been enough for many in Pakistan to announce how thankful they are that Pakistan exists. Many have started freshly espousing the virtues of the two-nation theory. But this is faulty analysis.
In the first instance, it is well worth remembering that safety from the clutches of religious fanatics is something that Pakistan's Hindus and Christians have not had the pleasure of experiencing. After the eruption of violence in Gujarat, extremists in Rahim Yar Khan district of Punjab attacked and seriously injured two men from the Hindu Siraiki community, which forms part of the region's true indigenous population. Rather than bask in a false sense of security, the stark horror of what is happening in and around Ahmedabad should remind Pakistanis of what has been a reality in their own country for too long. There is no cause for any feeling of relief when we know that the Pakistani establishment – just like India's newly-risen parochial parties – has systematically patronised extremist groups since the late 1970s.
Not long ago, Gen3ral Pervez Musharraf promised the people a clampdown on armed groups operating in the country and an end to the insane cycle of violence. Instead, the situation is getting worse: as if to make a statement, Sunni supremacists have repeatedly targeted Shi'a doctors in Karachi (see page 22). These killings would not have happened if the government had in fact taken firm measures as promised. Intelligence agencies that are not able to prevent such murderous sectarian incidents should be disbanded. The attack on a church in the diplomatic enclave in Islamabad proved to be a big embarrasment to the government because of high-profile casualties, but even here the law-enforcement and intelligence officials were proven hapless.