Last May at the gathering of the President's Council, we had the pleasure of meeting URI's Youth Trainer of Pakistan, Irfan Ali. Bright, handsome, committed, he opened our eyes to the courageous work being done in a troubled spot.
Eight months later, Irfan had been killed on a street in Quetta, Pakistan.
What happened? The facts are slowly coming in. It appears that a purely evil plot was carried out. Plant a bomb in a market area, set it off, kill and wound as many people as possible. Then.....when a large crowd rushes in to help, the second bomb goes off to annihilate the first responders. Pure evil.
Was this an act of political evil? Tribal evil? Cultural evil? Religious evil? In time, this question may or not be answered. But in a region of deep religious divides where competing loyalties prompt murder and reprisals in the Name of God, I would suspect that the bloody hand of religion was clenched.
Irfan was URI's Youth Trainer in Pakistan. In America, when the word "youth" is used, it often refers to a holding pattern, a time of preparing for the dynamic phase of life. How wrong that perception is with regards to most of the world. Youth all over this planet are on the roads and streets profoundly impacting life now. They are causing regime changes, revolutionizing social media and dying. So much of life's struggle today is determined by youth. To be a Youth Trainer in Pakistan is to stand tall and take on the mantle of change agent.
On the street in Quetta when the first bomb went off........Irfan had no body armor, no weapon. He was aware of the double bomb tactic. He knew the street. And yet when the first bomb went off, he ran into the agony pulled along by his instinct of human compassion.
The first announcement of his death referred to Irfan as a martyr. The word "martyr" means "witness." Someone who saw something of primary and compelling importance. What was it that Irfan saw that led him toward martyrdom? I do not know. But I suspect that he looked at URI's Charter and in his mind's eye and his soul's imagination, he saw a different Pakistan. One where people of competing faith traditions laid down their weapons of terror and began to craft a culture of respectful disagreement and shared citizenship.
For all the world, it looks like religiously motivated violence ended the life of this young man who was committed to ending religiously motivated violence. And yet there are thousands and tens of thousands globally who will believe his witness and walk, yea, run on roads of his martyrdom, laying their lives on the line for a new way of being human. His name might not make any newspapers. His name will probably fade in the world, in Pakistan and perhaps in Quetta.
But I'll tell you this: as long as there is a URI, the name Irfan Ali will never be forgotten and will be held in high esteem. In this family, the name Irfan Ali will always mean running with all of your heart into the fray in the confidence that the day of religiously motivated violence will end and the dawn of a culture of peace will prevail at last.
May the hand of God hold Irfan in peace.
The Right Rev. William E. Swing
President and Founder, United Religions Initiative
