“Take ‘Ali’ out of your name or your son will get killed”

“Take ‘Ali’ out of your name or your son will get killed” – Narrated by Syed Haider Since the increase in the attacks of the nature where ID cards are checked for Shiite names before the people are killed, our Sunni brothers with names like ‘Ali’, ‘Hasan’, ‘Hussain’, ‘Jaffar’, etc have often been mistaken for Shiites and killed too. I write about an incident with my friends last week. It is shocking how afraid non-Shiites are of having ‘Ali’ in their name. The incident went something like this: A Sunni friend of mine named his son ‘Ahsan Ali Khan’ so another Sunni friend sitting nearby said that he should take ‘Ali’ out of the name otherwise his son would get killed. Then they both turned to me and said I should consider this too and if taking ‘Ali’ off our my name can save my life, then that’s what I should do. Oh dear! Surely they thought I was oblivious to this, but for me this was proof of their simple and oblivious mindset. I was once told that the Taliban terrorists were the enemies of everyone with a different mindset. Whether these people be of a different Sect in Islam of just different ideologies, for example, Shias, Sunni Barelvis, Moderate Deobandis or Secular Liberals, etc. But what can we say about the great Pakistan where some open-minded Secular Liberals are adored by the Taliban. They are in love with the people with the Romanvi [trans: Romantic] name and character like Raza Romanvi. Similarly, I was told Jihadis are Dervishes and do not accept gifts or presents. But those incharge of this country have showered these Jihadis with great rewards because it is no easy task to get 112 terrorists released from Court! Several of these so-called Human Rights Champions and journalists are available only in Pakistan. Their sole task is to rub salt on the injuries suffered by the oppressed. We have gone off topic, though. So the point was, “Take Ali out of your name otherwise your son will get killed”. Protect your children because the Shias aren’t going to change their names and will let their children get killed and beheaded. You worry about yourself because no terrorist will not accept that this person is not a Shia but a Sunni or Deobandi or Barelvi, and your son will get killed just because of his name and you will be left with nothing but regret.