ABSTRACT

News reports frequently convey acts of violence against Hazara Shias in Pakistan, but there is limited empirical scholarship about lived experiences of the community. To contribute to the knowledge in this field, interviews with Pakistani Hazara Shia victims, who have also lost immediate family members to violence, were conducted. Interviews with thirteen participants took place between February and May 2021. Thematic content analysis revealed two broad areas: Challenges and fears and Coping and hope for a better future. The former showed that participants struggled with: (i) uncertainty about which factor plays a greater role in violence; (ii) facing psychological warfare and living with violence by normalising it; (iii) discrimination and exclusion; and (iv) mental trauma, drug abuse, and suicide ideation. The latter thematic area uncovered that participants persisted through: (i) religious coping and spirituality; (ii) plans for migration versus nationalism; and (iii) hope that basic human rights and special quotas would be secured in the future. The study highlights that unless it is stopped, the violence against Hazara Shias will have to be accepted as an ‘extension of genocide’ which deprives living members of the community from essentially continuing with life beyond pure survival and suffering from ‘social death’.

摘要

新闻报道经常传达针对巴基斯坦哈扎拉什叶派的暴力行为，但关于社区生活经历的实证研究有限。为了增加这一领域的知识，我们采访了巴基斯坦哈扎拉什叶派受害者，他们也因暴力失去了直系亲属。在 2021 年 2 月至 2021 年 5 月期间对 13 名参与者进行了采访。主题内容分析揭示了两大领域：挑战和恐惧以及应对和对更美好未来的希望. 前者表明参与者挣扎于：（i）不确定哪个因素在暴力中起着更大的作用；(ii) 通过将其正常化来面对心理战和生活在暴力之中；(iii) 歧视和排斥；(iv) 精神创伤、药物滥用和自杀意念。后一个主题领域揭示了参与者通过以下方式坚持：（i）宗教应对和灵性；(ii) 移民计划与民族主义；(iii) 希望将来能保障基本人权和特殊配额。该研究强调，除非停止，否则针对哈扎拉什叶派的暴力行为将不得不被视为“种族灭绝的延伸”，剥夺了社区中活着的成员从本质上继续超越纯粹生存和遭受“社会死亡”的生活。