April 1, 2018: Killing of Hazara Shiite in Pakistan

QUETTA, PAKISTAN – Islamist terrorist don’t exclusively target the West. In fact, their victims are disproportionally fellow Muslims.

Since humanity has existed, we have fought amongst ourselves. Whether conflict was instigated by a desire for power, riches, or revenge, we are quite the violent species.

One would think that in the interest of survival this violence would not extend to members of our own families or communities. One would be wrong. The prevalence of domestic violence in North America alone, sadly exacerbated by the current pandemic-induced isolation measures, proves that this is not the case. Whatever happened to violence is not the answer?

In a broader sense, religious extremists kill their fellow community members with alarming regularity. Often referred to as sectarian violence, this is a big problem in many Muslim communities worldwide, as seen in today’s attack.

On this day in 2018

A member of Quetta’s Shia Hazara community in Pakistan was killed and another was injured in what was suspected to be a targeted killing.

Though no group immediately claimed the attack, sectarian terrorism in the Balochistan region of Pakistan has disproportionately targeted people from the Hazara community. In all likelihood, the perpetrator(s) were Sunni Islamist terrorists: Sunni extremists HATE the Shia, whom they see as apostates. Furthermore, the Hazara are seen as an easy target because of their distinctive garb.

Though some have suggested humanity has a whole is becoming less and less violent, this is not the lived reality of many in conflicted areas of the world. When will we learn that violence is not the answer?

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