In the recent past, we have seen a new pattern emerging. The TTP has started attacking shrines of Sufi saints all across the country. The Taliban before this attack have targeted a mosque and shrine in the Khyber Agency’s Landi Kotal tehsil, a Sufi saint’s shrine in Gandhawa in the district of Jhal Magsi, the shrine of Rahman Baba and Mian Umar Baba in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. The TTP also initially claimed responsibility for the triple suicide attack on Data Darbar in Lahore but later backtracked and denied involvement. This begs the question: why attack Sufi shrines? Sufism is the single greatest threat to the Taliban and their ideology of violence and coercion. Sufism teaches tolerance and humanism, it is non-dogmatic, accommodative of all sects and religions and non-violent. The Sufis’ message of love transcends the material world and embraces universal brotherhood. In stark contrast, the Taliban use violence as the principal means to their goals and want to impose their strict interpretation of Islam on everyone by force and compulsion. The Taliban consider it un-Islamic to pay homage at Sufi shrines and cite it as shirk (associating partners with God) and bidat (innovation in religion). Knowing their open hostility towards Sufism, one expected the government to have done some homework.
Contrary to popular perception, the large majority of Pakistanis adhere to Sufi beliefs rather than the hardline views espoused by the Taliban. The TTP feels threatened by their dwindling support and have tried to create a sectarian divide time and again. No doubt, the enraged people of Karachi took to the streets protesting against the attack on the mazaar, but what’s of greater urgency is that the state must do some really deep thinking.
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