by OMAR ALI
Professor Syed Ali Haider, professor and chairman of ophthalmology at Lahore General Hospital and renowned vitreo-retinal surgeon got up on Monday morning to take his son to school. His son Murtaza Haider was 11 years old. In front of Forman-Christian college, literally yards from the house of the deputy prime minister of Pakistan, gunmen on a motorbike opened fire on them. Dr Ali Haider and his 11 year old son were shot dead, both with gunshots to the head. There are “no witnesses”. No one took down a description of the killers, much less the make and model of their motorbike. Nobody has been caught. It may be that nobody will be caught. Or it may be that someone will be caught, and as in hundreds of previous cases, will be released.It is even possible that the government of Punjab will for a few years pay a stipend to the killer’s family just in case they have to lock him up. They have done that in the past. The quality of mercy is not strained in Punjab.
But there is no great mystery about why Professor Ali Haider and his 11 year old innocent child were shot in the head. They were shot because they were Shias and a small but powerful faction of Pakistan’s Sunni majority has declared them “kafir” (infidel). They were also shot because he was a prominent, highly educated, highly esteemed member of the community. What use is a message if it is not heard? The killers wanted to be heard, loud and clear. It will not be a stretch to imagine that they are also proud of their act; satisfied that their op went off without a hitch. At their post-murder celebration they may have told stories and laughed; perhaps some of the laughs and stories were about the boy and how his eyes looked just before he died. It was right in front of the deputy PM sahib’s house, so they probably did not have the time to make a video. But they do that too. They make videos, and then post them on youtube with songs in the background. They are not ashamed. They are looking forward to doing it again.
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(Thanks to Robin Khundkar)