The Making of a Messiah: How Qazi Nisar Saved Gilgit-Baltistan and Changed History
The sectarian division between Shia-Sunni in Gilgit-Baltistan started to transform into a military conflict from a mere difference of interpretation in Islam during the 1970s. In 1975, the Sunnis from the south and Shias from the north of the region start to march towards Gilgit city over a sectarian issue during the month of Muharram. The Gilgit Scouts who recently liberated the region from Hindu rule and their memories of that revolution were still fresh stopped both the advancing groups before reaching Gilgit and averted the sectarian bloodshed. This was the last time people of GB used their conscious and the GB scouts used its agency to remind us that the Shias and Sunnis in their ranks did not laid lives to replace the Hindu rule with a sectarian strife among Muslims.
On 5th October 2025, this national consciousness resurfaced after 50 years when the GB Police foiled an attack on the head of Sunnis Molana Qazi Nisar. “I told Qazi Sahib to stay inside as his life was more crucial for peace than mine” one of the injured policemen told the media while others expressed similar views in their motivation to engage in a 10 minute long fight with terrorist who were outnumbered in count and arms. When the fighting ended, majority of the policemen got injured in defending the man who was now going to decide the future life course for GB.
Qazi who is the head and supreme leader of Sunni school of thought in GB and attacking a leader of his stature is considered a direct attack on the whole Sunni community. He enjoys utmost respect, undisputed opinion, and unchallenged leadership in the community. So, the news of an attack on him and on top of it his injury could have pushed the Gilgit city and the entire region into the flames of sectarian conflict. When the news hit the social media and while the people were still scrolling the screens, Qazi who was already aware of the mastermind’s tools appealed the people to stay calm and not to harm any innocent signaling not to point fingers likewise before. The way Qazi’s followers reacted was again never seen in our history of sectarianism. Although, there were initial unresponsible comments by the second and third tier of Sunni scholars but soon after meeting Qazi they controlled themselves and the youth who were filled with emotions is again a rare event of collective restraint in our history.
The masters sitting within us, around us, and beyond our borders knew that this old recipe of sectarian attack and the resulting unrest will deliver perfect results. They planned perfectly with more numbers, better weapons in their arsenal, an exit plan and the element of surprise that could even shock any battle tested army and prove fatal. Everything fell apart, the guards managed the initial shock, positioned themselves and started to engage and the guardian saved them all. The heavy weaponry could not damage the fully exposed Qazi’s vehicle; the terrorists had to run to save their own lives and their exit pan failed. This saga is no less than a miracle.
God saved Qazi in a roughly ten minutes battle against a fanatic squad who came to kill him and Qazi delivered what God loves the most: peace on His land. In the uncertainty of those 10 minutes, Qazi has undergone a truly remarkable spiritual journey that none could do in their entire lives. He made his way into our hearts and gained the same respect, sense of ownership from across GB and beyond likewise his followers. This is evident from the support and prayers of people equally across all the three administrative divisions of GB and without any division on social media.
To keep the momentum of unity and ensure the continuity of peace it is highly probable that Qazi could convene a national jirga of all political, religious and civil society leaders to sign the Charter of Gilgit-Baltistan. Among other points, the charter should explicitly mention that the soil of GB is no longer ready to be used as a dumping space for national and international militia groups disguised as sectarian saviors but are master’s tools to implement master’s plans who might not follow any sort of religion. The youth on social media and journalists who showed immense maturity so far must shape the narrative for this national assembly (Qomi Jirga). Additionally, as a symbolic measure, the people should stand on their roof tops holding candles to thank God for peace, to honor GB police for their bravery and to express their gratitude to Qazi for his time-tested leadership. This will send an unequivocal message to those who still think GB is a colonial shadow and it is no longer a pawn on anyone’s chessboard. Such a powerful gesture will also hint at disowning those involved in this attack and speed up the efforts of our law enforcing agencies to arrest them. In choosing peace, Molana Qazi Nisar Sahib has indeed become a messiah for his time, and history reminds us that messiahs bring blessings for their people.
