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Kohistan massacre: The guardian angels who saved lives

Devil Soul

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Kohistan massacre: The guardian angels who saved lives
By Shabbir Mir
Published: March 20, 2012
GILGIT:
Last month 16 Shias were taken off a bus, lined up and killed in the Kohistan district of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa while travelling to Gilgit-Baltistan. This horrific fact is well-known.

What has now emerged is that the number could easily have been 18, or more, but was not due to the quick-thinking, bravery and solidarity of anonymous passengers on two buses that day.

As the gunmen were singling out passengers on the basis of their sect before executing them one-by-one, at least two Shia passengers travelling in two separate buses escaped murder. They were saved by some of the Sunni passengers travelling alongside them in the buses which were part of the convoy reportedly stopped by the gunmen.

When the gunmen entered the buses after stopping the convoy, at first nobody knew who they were or their intentions. They had reportedly erected hurdles on the highway and numbered at least 20.

The awful reality of the situation gradually emerged. Realising that the slightest resistance or a perceived act of aggression could result in death, the passengers remained quiet in the tense environment, as each was asked by the masked men to prove his identity.

“He is our colleague and we are a Tabligee Jamaat going to Astore Valley,” said one of the Sunni passengers about a Shia seated next to him, after the masked men demanded all Shia passengers disembark.

The three other Shias in that bus – who had followed orders and got out of the bus – were shot dead outside. Names have been withheld for security reasons.

This was not the only act of impulsive heroism that day. In another bus, also a part of the convoy, a Gilgit resident saved a Shia passenger by telling the gunmen that the man was his brother. “The man who saved the Shia passenger was a Sunni and came from the Kashrote area,” said Shoaib and Aliyaar, the driver and his assistant who witnessed the incident and eventually told their story to a local newspaper.

According to other eyewitnesses, the assailants lobbed a hand grenade from some height after carrying out the execution.

Older residents of the Nagar Valley had set another example of inspiring humanity as they took at least 35 Sunni labourers working in the valley into protective custody soon after the Kohistan tragedy, and quietly shifted them to Gilgit, before a possible backlash could have cost them their lives.
With emotions still running high in G-B, these accounts of mutual trust and respect for other people’s beliefs have bolstered those who wish to fight the forces of sectarianism.

The terror of February 28 should never be forgotten. Neither, though, should the stories of those who stood up against the murderous fascists – and represented the more widespread spirit of those who live in G-B and indeed the whole of Pakistan.:pakistan:
Published in The Express Tribune, March 20th, 2012.
 
how did they know who is shia and who is sunni before killing. Do shias look different?
 
as per news reports they checked their ID Cards.
 
how did they know who is shia and who is sunni before killing. Do shias look different?

1.the Shia adopt names of the Prophet's family thats a big give away.
2. Gilgit and Sakardu areas have Shia majority so any one travelling there has about 80% chance of being a shia and thats good enough for an error margin.

In Balochistan and Afghanistan the outlook is a give away for Hazara. as they look more like people from Central Asia. the Taliban and BLA dont even bother to check their IDs, affiliation or faith. Taliban kill them for being Shia. and BLA kills them for being Pakistani patriots.

as per news reports they checked their ID Cards.
yes which would have names of certain Muslim personalities who were either the family members of Holy Prophet PBUH or the followers of Ali.
 
I'm so proud of them ! I wish we had more Pakistanis like that who transcend these idiotic divisions that we've created and treat a fellow man truly as their fellow man.

the solution is within us.

the culprits are one of us and so are the heroes. we need to make the hate preachers so irrelevant then they lose their appeal and are discarded and dismissed by the society.

while the uncontrolled foreign funding from Middle east has played its part in strengthening these terrorists, we ourselves also share the blame for failing to stop it and also making ourselves gullible and easy candidate for their indoctrination. our land has the distinction of the Sufi saints, its time that the keepers of these khanwadas step forward and remind us who we are what we are not.

the intolerance and mutual hatred in current times is doctored and unnatural. the ordinary Muslims are tolerant. the persecution of the weaker sects has been always a political and personal Vedanta by the rulers and hate preachers who inspired the weak and think minds.

its time that we appreciate the heroisms like these by our citizens and the selfless services of our police and security forces who look after us in these times. for the sensationalist and army hating media this is a non-story because there is a ray of hope here. but its up to us to share such news so that people know that we can defeat the terrorism and hatred which is essential for the sake of Pakistan and its neighbours.
 
such brutality is such so disgusting!

Killing of innocent people based on their school of thought is the worst of crimes!

Ban these bloody sectarian organizations like SSP, LeJ!

May Allah hasten the re-appearance of Imam Mahdi (AS) so that all of this injustice can be undone! Ameen!
 
its not written on ID whether he is shia or suni.

yup but in late 90s Amir Al Munafiqeen Hazrat Nawaz Sharif's government was mulling the idea of delcaring shia's as kafir too and they would have had a prefix or a suffix Kafir next to their name like
Mohammad Ali (kafir) .. (these are the comments from a serving major in the army I met back in the days)
or (Kafir) Ghulam Hussan

although Sipah Sahabah and Lashker Jhagvi were already doing their Islamic duty in the most peaceful times for us majority.
 
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