Sectarian violence in Pakistan

Pakistan, one of the largest Muslim countries the world, has seen serious Shia-Sunni sectarian violence. Almost 70% of Pakistan's Muslim population is Sunni, and another 30% are Shia. However, this Shia minority forms the second largest Shia population of any country, larger than the Shia majority in Iraq.

In the last two decades, as many as 4,000 people are estimated to have died in sectarian fighting in Pakistan, 300 in 2006. Amongst the culprits blamed for the killing are Al Qaeda working "with local sectarian groups" to kill what they perceive as Shi'a apostates, and "foreign powers ... trying to sow discord."

Background

Some see a precursor of Pakistani Shia-Sunni strife in the April 1979 execution of deposed President Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto on questionable charges by Islamic fundamentalist General Muhammad Zia ul-Haq. Ali Bhutto was Shia, Zia ul-Haq a Sunni.

Zia ul-Haq

The "Islamization" of General Zia ul-Haq that followed was resisted by Shia who saw it as "Sunnification" as the laws and regulations were based on Sunni Fiqh, or Islamic Jurisprudence. In July 1980, 25,000 Shia protested the Islamization laws in the capital Islamabad. Further exacerbating the situation was the dislike between Shia leader Khomeini and General ul-Haq.

In the early years of sectarian conflict, extremist Sunnis clashed with Ahmadis, until they were declared non-Muslims in 1974 by judges on Pakistan's supreme court. Under continuing rule of Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq, sectarianism in Pakistan, especially in Karachi and South Punjab, became quite violent as the process of Islamization began in the Pakistani judicial system.

Social laws, which had been tolerant of the open-sale of alcohol, intermingling of the sexes, etc. were severely curtailed by Zia's laws, although hardliners in both the Shia and Sunni camps were largely in favor of his restrictions. The process eventually came upon issues in which Sunni and Shia viewpoints differed. In such instances Zia favored the Sunni interpretation of Islam over the Shia one, causing a rift between the two communities.

Anti-Shia groups

Anti-Shia groups in Pakistan include the Lashkar i Jhangvi and Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistan, offshoots of the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (JUI). The groups demand the expulsion of all Shias from Pakistan and have killed hundreds of Pakistani Shias between 1996 and 1999. As in Iraq they "targeted Shia in their holy places and mosques, especially during times of communal prayer." From January to May 1997, Sunni terror groups assassinated 75 Shia community leaders "in a systematic attempt to remove Shias from positions of authority." Lashkar i Jhangvi has declared Shia to be `American agents` and the `near enemy` in global jihad. also many killed in sialkot city.

Iranian funding

Exacerbating tensions is Iranian funding of Shia extremists in Pakistan, who not only exact revenge against Sunnis, but have also been used to violently suppress Iranian dissidents in the country who are critical of the Iranian regime.

Shia formed student associations and a Shia party with the fundings from Iran, Sunni began to form sectarian militias recruited from Deobandi and Ahl-i Hadith madrasahs. Preaching against the Shia in Pakistan was radical cleric Israr Ahmed. Muhammad Manzour Numani, a senior Indian cleric with close ties to Saudi Arabia published a book entitled ``Iranian Revolution: Imam Khomeini and Shiism. The book, which "became the gospel of Deobandi militants" in the 1980s, attacked Khomeini and argued the excesses of the Islamic revolution were proof that Shiism was not the doctrine of misguided brothers, but beyond the Islamic pale.

Pakistan is the only Sunni majority country where Shias have been elected to top offices and played an important part in the country's history and nation building. The founder of Pakistan Muhammed Ali Jinnah, Muhammad Ali Bogra family are Shia Muslims, and so are the Bhuttos, Asif Ali Zardari, Syeda Abida Hussain, Faisal Saleh Hayat, Fahmida Mirza, Zulfiqar Mirza and several other top ranking Pakistani Politicians and Generals such as Yahya Khan, Musa Khan and Iskander Mirza.

Saudi Influences

Because of massive Saudi assistance to Pakistan in the 1980s, Zia began to shift his favor away from local variants of Sunnism (which were largely tolerant of Shias) towards the far more intolerant Saudi style of Sunnism known as Wahhabism. Much of the violent sectarian conflict can be attributed to the introduction of Wahabbism, which is fundamentally anti-Shia, and gained notoriety in mainstream Sunni Islam after the destruction of the Shia holy shrine of Imam Hussein in Karbala, Iraq, in 1800. Saudi funded arms soon flooded into the country as the Soviets invaded Afghanistan. While the arms were meant to be directed to Afghan fighters, many inevitably ended up in the hands of newly formed Wahhabi paramilitary groups. However, the Wahhabist paramilitary groups attacked not only Shias, but anyone who they felt was not a true Muslim, including Sufis, who have largely influenced the practice of Sunnism in Pakistan.

Spread of Sectarianism

During the 80's and early 90's, violence spread as Shia mourning processions during the period of Ashura frequently came under attack from Saudi-backed Wahabbi extremists. Despite the attacks from Wahabbi extremists, many mainstream Sunnis would visit the processions to show their own reverence for historical Shia figures. However according to Wahabbis, the local Sunnis were acting un-Islamic in their participation in Shia rituals, and were considered legitimate targets as such. In response, Iranian-backed Shia militant groups would often attack Wahabbi mosques, and events staged by Wahabbists. Also at the time, old rivalries took on a more sectarian nature in the areas around Gilgit, and Skardu as Saudi and Iranian paramilitary groups spread their influence.

Sectarianism as a Class Conflict in Punjab

In South Punjab, sectarian violence is most deadly. However, violence is often rooted class-disputes, and not theological arguments. Most of the wealthy and powerful estate-owners in the region of Shia, while their tenants are poorer Sunnis. Sectarianism feeds off the class tension, which may explain why sectarianism is more prominent there then elsewhere in Punjab where Sunnis and Shias belong to similar economic classes.

Sectarianism as a Tribal Conflict in the Northwest Frontier

Tribal clashes between Pashtun tribes in the North-West Frontier Province have also taken on a sectarian nature, with the Shia Orakzai tribe often battling with their Sunni neighbors. These clashes are centered around the town of Bannu, and have often turned deadly. However, the conflict is rooted in centuries' old land disputes, and has only taken on a sectarian nature since the fanatic Taliban regime came into power in nearby Afghanistan in the 1990s.

Hitlists

In the early part of the new millennium, the names of Shia doctors and lawyers were listed on anonymously paid-for newspaper ads; these were, in fact, assassination hit lists - those listed were systematically assassinated by extremist the Wahabbist group Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, as part of an effort to eradicate the nation of prominent Shias. A new wave sectarian violence erupted when a Sunni suicide bombing of a Shia mosque in Iraq in 2003 took place.

Waning of Violence

Since 2003, sectarianism in Pakistan has considerably waned, and only a few instances of sectarian violence have been reported. Of these, the majority stem from the tribal conflict in Bannu, while attacks in Karachi, Gilgit, and Punjab have almost entirely ceased. This may be largely attributable to a new Saudi hesitance in funding the number of attacks in proportion to the size of the community is quite low.

Timeline

1990s

An example of an early Shia-Sunni fitna shootout occurred in Kurram, one of the tribal agencies of the Northwest Pakistan, where the Pashtoon population was split between Sunnis and Shia. In September 1996 more than 200 people were killed when a gun battle between teenage Shia and Sunni escalated into a communal war that lasted five days. Woman and children were kidnapped and gunmen even executed out-of-towners who were staying at a local hotel.

2000s

The violence worsened immediately after September 11th and the expulsion of the Taliban from Afghanistan. In 2002 12 shia Hazara olice cadets were gun downed in Quetta. In 2003 the main shia friday mosque was attacked in Quetta, killing 53 innocent worshippers. March 2, 2004, at least 42 persons were killed and more than 100 wounded when a procession of the Shia Muslims was attacked by rival Sunni extremists at Liaquat Bazaar in Quetta. Separately, on October 7, 2004, a car bomb killed 40 members of an extremist Sunni organization in Multan.300 people died during 2006.

However, since September 11, there has been an overall decline in violence, as Saudi sources are more reluctant to fund Sunni extremists in the wake of increased scrutiny of Saudi ties to hardline extremists.

On December 28, 2009, as many as 40 shia were killed in an apparent sectarian suicide bombing in Karachi. The bomber attacked a march of Shia muslims who were making the key holy day of Ashoura.

On May 28, 2010, two mosques in Lahore belonging to the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community were attacked by the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan Punjab Wing. The attacks were carried out nearly simultaneously at Mosque Darul Al Zikr, Garhi Shahu and Mosque Bait Al Noor Lahore Model Town, 15 km apart. More than 95 people were killed and more than 108 were injured in the incident. One attacker was killed; another suicide attacker was captured by worshipers.

See also

• Persecution of Shia Muslims
• Pakistani demographics

External links

• Pakistan's Shia-Sunni divide (BBC)
• Shaheed Foundation - documenting sectarian violence