URI members throughout the world are mourning the loss of Irfan Ali, a youth leader, Cooperation Circle founder and lifelong peace activist who was killed Thursday while helping the victims of a bomb attack in his hometown of Quetta, Pakistan. He was 38.
In his thirteen years as an interfaith activist and peace worker, Irfan met, taught and inspired more than 3,000 young people throughout Pakistan, traveling frequently from the cities of Islamabad and Lahore to the isolated villages of the mountainous west.
“Irfan Ali was an inspirational leader,” said Kiran Bali, chair of URI’s Global Council. “He showed immense commitment and courage at all times.”
Before coming to URI, Irfan worked briefly for Amnesty International and founded his own interfaith peace organization, Roots (now a URI Cooperation Circle). Despite his best efforts, however, pressure from the Taliban made it difficult for Roots to function effectively.
“It’s difficult to work in such circumstances, when people are groomed and nourished in an atmosphere of hate,” Irfan said in October 2012. “The Taliban sow the seeds of hatred against different ethnic groups, different sects. Yesterday, people believed all the members of different ethnic, sectarian, religious groups and entities around them were like their brothers, like their family. Now, that diversity has been killed. Everybody is feeling and thinking that the other person is their enemy.”
His life changed, Irfan said, when he met Shazia Wahid – a fellow member of the Hazara tribe and one of URI’s first Youth Ambassadors. Irfan was immediately impressed by the principles expressed in URI’s charter and its work building bridges between members of different faiths.
“As soon as I knew about URI, I said, ‘This is my lost dream. This is what I was looking for,’ ” Irfan said. “This is the voice of my heart.”
As an interfaith activist at a time of sectarian turmoil – and particularly as a member of the Hazara tribe, whose Shiite members have been targeted by Sunni death squads – Irfan understood the dangers of his work. Yet he never shrank from an opportunity to help, engage or educate others. In July 2011, he led a group of 35 Christians, Hindus and Muslims on a pilgrimage to visit several Islamic shrines and the home of Muhammad Ali Jinnah, the “Father of Pakistan.” The eighty-mile journey brought the group through the Taliban strongholds of Kuchlak and Pishin.
“Irfan was a very noble and brave man, who lived the ideals in his everyday life with courage and commitment that most of us only talk about,” said Sally Mahe, URI’s Director of Regional Development.
In October of 2012, Irfan traveled to Peshawar, a city on the Khyber Pass not far from the Afghan border. There, he met with officials at the local university to promote the creation of Cooperation Circles, provide leadership training and educate as many young people as possible.
“My programs are to engage the youth of Pakistan in positive learning, especially about peace,” Irfan said in October. “I want to familiarize them with other religions – with Christianity, with Hinduism, with Buddhism and even with Islam. Many of the young people I meet are unaware even about the tenets of their own religion. And when they are unaware of their own religion’s teachings, it is very easy for them to be exploited by selfish leaders and politicians and by the anti-peace, anti-social elements.”
His great compassion made it impossible for Irfan to stand on the sidelines while others suffered. He worked tirelessly to distribute blankets, mats and other emergency supplies following the devastating floods of 2010, and brought Christmas sweets and presents to the patients of St. Joseph’s Hospital in Rawalpindi in December 2012. When Rimsha Masih, a young Christian girl from Islamabad, was accused of blasphemy in 2012, Irfan worked to rally other peace activists and interfaith groups to her cause.
“These are the things which peace demands,” Irfan said. “If we do not stand by each member or faith in a time of emergency or crisis, then there is no sense of that peace or interfaith work.”
On Thursday, Jan. 10, a suicide bomber detonated explosives outside a snooker hall near Irfan’s home in Quetta. After reassuring family and friends through his Twitter feed that he had survived the blast, Irfan ran to help victims of the explosion, according to his friend and roommate, Fazian Hassan. A second suicide bomber then exploded a vehicle outside the hall. Members of Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, a Sunni militant group with ties to the Pakistani Taliban, have claimed responsibility for the attacks, according to the New York Times. At least 81 people died in the two attacks.
“Irfan Ali rushed to the bomb blast site to help those people who were wounded. He was saving the lives of others, and his own life was sacrificed,” said the Rev. James Channan, URI’s Coordinator for Pakistan. “We have lost a great, visionary man… who wanted to bring positive change to the young people of Pakistan.”
As news of Irfan’s death resonated in Pakistan and throughout the world, an outpouring of support for the young activist and the causes he championed appeared online and on the streets of Quetta and Islamabad. Friends and admirers held a candlelit vigil in Irfan’s memory outside an Islamabad supermarket on Thursday afternoon, while URI members across the globe expressed their shock and sorrow at his loss.
“Irfan brought such deep vision, energy, commitment and courage to realizing URI’s purpose in his deeply troubled homeland,” said the Rev. Canon Charles P. Gibbs, URI’s Executive Director. “It is impossible to express the depth of grief we feel at the tragic loss of this bright life.”
Note: This story has been edited from its original version to reflect Irfan Ali's correct age.
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