Mehzar was on her way to her school, alongside her father, when they shot at her. Two bullets. Nazar Abbass Zaidi, her father, succumbed to his injuries. Mission accomplished.
There has been no coverage of the incident in mainstream media, so please forgive me if I can’t share more details. There isn’t much to share. Except that a fourteen year old now lies wounded in a hospital bed slowly recovering from her pain, they say when she’s conscious she asks about her father, they say doctors are worried if they operate on her the surgery may leave her paralyzed, they are asking why we are all silent?
I am told the silence is because of fear. There’s a genuine fear about reporting these incidents, there’s a threat to each voice that dares to question or even grieve the killing. While bullets are tainted with the blood of the Shias amongst us the death of our collective conscience is a much bigger catastrophe. It makes us complacent.
For as long as I can remember I have read news reports, human rights journals & watched news clips reporting ‘sectarian violence’, it remains a vivid memory in my mind. But who are these sects we speak of, that are being targeted? It’s not sectarian killing, it’s systematic targeted killing of the members of a sect; the Shias. From hate graffiti to bullet riddled dead bodies its the Shias amongst us that are being eliminated one after the other. But now even the ritual reports on sectarian violence have been silenced.
If Mehzar ever gets a chance at life again, it’s only fair that she hears the truth: Mezhar, it is our bigotry and our shameful silence that killed your father and unless we break free from our fears & acknowledge the glaringly obvious please feel free to blame us for the death of your father, the horrors you will continue to face & for the blood of many more that will continue to be shed while we look away.
Moshin ye Maqbool Riwayat hai jahan main. Qatil kabhi maqtool ka matam nahin kertey
Filed under: Religion, Terrorism
