Sectarian violence in Pakistan
Encyclopedia
Sectarian violence in Pakistan spark up occasionally between the predominant Sunnis
and minority Shias
. According to Library of Congress
, Pew Research Center
, Oxford University
, the CIA
Factbook
and other experts, Shi'a Islam in Pakistan
make up 5-20% of the total Muslim
population, while the remaining 75-95% is Sunni Islam
.
Among those blamed for the sectarian violence in the country are mainly Sunni militants such as Sipah-e-Sahaba and members of Shia militant groups such as Tehrik-e-Jafria
and others. However, predominant Sunni terrorist groups are often blamed for frequent attacks on minority Shiites and their religious gatherings resulting in reprisal attacks by them.
in terms of numbers. The total Shia population in Pakistan is approximately 17 million to as high as 30 million according to Vali Nasr
. Globally
, Shia Islam is represented by 10-20% of the total Muslims
, while the remaining 90% or nine-tenths
practice Sunni Islam
.
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.
and GCC
states funding radical extremist Sunnis in Pakistan, resulting in tit for tat attacks on each other.
. In 2002, 12 Shia Hazara police cadets were gun downed in Quetta
. In 2003, the main Shia Friday Mosque was attacked in Quetta, killing 53 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 Shias were killed in an apparent suicide bombing in Karachi. The bomber attacked a Shia procession
which was held to mark Ashoura. Since June 2010 in Karachi, Sipah-e-Sahaba
is involved in the target killing of seven innocent bystanders and intellectuals; all were from the Twelver Shia Muslim community. Sectarian riots as well as target killing of doctors in the provincial capital have been sending alarm bells to the present democratic system. Karachi had witnessed similar sectarian tension in the early 1980s when then President Zia-ul-Haq was in power. The military regime of those years had been backing certain groups to strengthen its rule and Karachi underwent worst situation after the sectarian riots. The Shia-Sunni clashes had started from the same section of the city (i.e. Godra Colony in New Karachi) after a small incident, and subsequently the clashes gripped the entire city, that hasn't stopped yet and continues.
In early September 2010, three separate attacks were reported in different parts of Pakistan. The first one took place on September 1 in Lahore
where at least 35 Shias were killed and 160 unknown people injured during a procession. The second one was reported to have taken place in Mardan
on Ahmadiyya
s in which at least one person was killed. The third attack also occurred on September 3 but in the city of Quetta which killed around 56 people during another procession calling for solidarity with Palestinians.
On December 16, a mortar attack killed nine (9) people, including women and children in Hangu, a town that has been a flash point for sectarian clashes between Shia and Sunni communities in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) Province, near tribal area. On the same day in another attack one child was killed and 28 people were wounded in Peshawar, the capital of KP province, as Shia Muslims marked Ashura.
Sunni Islam
Sunni Islam is the largest branch of Islam. Sunni Muslims are referred to in Arabic as ʾAhl ūs-Sunnah wa āl-Ǧamāʿah or ʾAhl ūs-Sunnah for short; in English, they are known as Sunni Muslims, Sunnis or Sunnites....
and minority Shias
Shi'a Islam in Pakistan
According to the Library of Congress, Pew Research Center, Oxford University, CIA World Factbook, U.S. State Department and many others, Shi'as make up 5-20% of the total Muslim population of Pakistan. The total number of Shias in Pakistan is approximately 17 million to as high as 30 million...
. According to Library of Congress
Library of Congress
The Library of Congress is the research library of the United States Congress, de facto national library of the United States, and the oldest federal cultural institution in the United States. Located in three buildings in Washington, D.C., it is the largest library in the world by shelf space and...
, Pew Research Center
Pew Research Center
The Pew Research Center is an American think tank organization based in Washington, D.C. that provides information on issues, attitudes and trends shaping the United States and the world. The Center and its projects receive funding from The Pew Charitable Trusts. In 1990, Donald S...
, Oxford University
Oxford Centre for Islamic Studies
The Oxford Centre for Islamic Studies is a Recognised Independent Centre of the University of Oxford, England. It was established in 1985 with the aim of encouraging the academic study of Islam and the Muslim world. The centre's Patron is Prince Charles.A new building for the centre is situated to...
, the CIA
Central Intelligence Agency
The Central Intelligence Agency is a civilian intelligence agency of the United States government. It is an executive agency and reports directly to the Director of National Intelligence, responsible for providing national security intelligence assessment to senior United States policymakers...
Factbook
The World Factbook
The World Factbook is a reference resource produced by the Central Intelligence Agency of the United States with almanac-style information about the countries of the world. The official paper copy version is available from the National Technical Information Service and the Government Printing Office...
and other experts, Shi'a Islam in Pakistan
Shi'a Islam in Pakistan
According to the Library of Congress, Pew Research Center, Oxford University, CIA World Factbook, U.S. State Department and many others, Shi'as make up 5-20% of the total Muslim population of Pakistan. The total number of Shias in Pakistan is approximately 17 million to as high as 30 million...
make up 5-20% of the total Muslim
Muslim
A Muslim, also spelled Moslem, is an adherent of Islam, a monotheistic, Abrahamic religion based on the Quran, which Muslims consider the verbatim word of God as revealed to prophet Muhammad. "Muslim" is the Arabic term for "submitter" .Muslims believe that God is one and incomparable...
population, while the remaining 75-95% is Sunni Islam
Sunni Islam
Sunni Islam is the largest branch of Islam. Sunni Muslims are referred to in Arabic as ʾAhl ūs-Sunnah wa āl-Ǧamāʿah or ʾAhl ūs-Sunnah for short; in English, they are known as Sunni Muslims, Sunnis or Sunnites....
.
Among those blamed for the sectarian violence in the country are mainly Sunni militants such as Sipah-e-Sahaba and members of Shia militant groups such as Tehrik-e-Jafria
Tehrik-e-Jafria
Tehrik-e-Jafria or Tehrik-e-Jafria-e-Pakistan was a Shia militant group in Pakistan, which was founded in 1979. It's creation coincided with the enforcement of controversial Islamic laws by then President of Pakistan, General Mohammad Zia-ul-Haq...
and others. However, predominant Sunni terrorist groups are often blamed for frequent attacks on minority Shiites and their religious gatherings resulting in reprisal attacks by them.
Background
Although Shias are a minority in the country, Pakistan holds the second largest Shia community after IranIran
Iran , officially the Islamic Republic of Iran , is a country in Southern and Western Asia. The name "Iran" has been in use natively since the Sassanian era and came into use internationally in 1935, before which the country was known to the Western world as Persia...
in terms of numbers. The total Shia population in Pakistan is approximately 17 million to as high as 30 million according to Vali Nasr
Vali Nasr
Vali Nasr is a leading expert on Middle East and Islamic world, a best-selling author, influential commentator and Professor of International Politics at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy of Tufts University, Senior Fellow in Foreign Policy at Brookings Institution, and a columnist for...
. Globally
Globalization
Globalization refers to the increasingly global relationships of culture, people and economic activity. Most often, it refers to economics: the global distribution of the production of goods and services, through reduction of barriers to international trade such as tariffs, export fees, and import...
, Shia Islam is represented by 10-20% of the total Muslims
Islam
Islam . The most common are and . : Arabic pronunciation varies regionally. The first vowel ranges from ~~. The second vowel ranges from ~~~...
, while the remaining 90% or nine-tenths
Decile
* In descriptive statistics, any of the nine values that divide the sorted data into ten equal parts, so that each part represents 1/10 of the sample or population* In astrology, an aspect of 36 degrees-See also:*Percentile*Quantile*Quartile*Summary statistics...
practice Sunni Islam
Sunni Islam
Sunni Islam is the largest branch of Islam. Sunni Muslims are referred to in Arabic as ʾAhl ūs-Sunnah wa āl-Ǧamāʿah or ʾAhl ūs-Sunnah for short; in English, they are known as Sunni Muslims, Sunnis or Sunnites....
.
Zia 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 KarachiKarachi
Karachi is the largest city, main seaport and the main financial centre of Pakistan, as well as the capital of the province of Sindh. The city has an estimated population of 13 to 15 million, while the total metropolitan area has a population of over 18 million...
and South Punjab, became quite violent as the process of Islamization
Islamization
Islamization or Islamification has been used to describe the process of a society's conversion to the religion of Islam...
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.
Iranian and Arab states funding
Exacerbating tensions is Iranian funding of Shia extremists and Arab states especially Saudi ArabiaSaudi Arabia
The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia , commonly known in British English as Saudi Arabia and in Arabic as as-Sa‘ūdiyyah , is the largest state in Western Asia by land area, constituting the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula, and the second-largest in the Arab World...
and GCC
Cooperation Council for the Arab States of the Gulf
The Cooperation Council for the Arab States of the Gulf , also known as the Gulf Cooperation Council , is a political and economic union of the Arab states bordering the Persian Gulf and constituting the Arabian Peninsula, namely Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and United Arab Emirates...
states funding radical extremist Sunnis in Pakistan, resulting in tit for tat attacks on each other.
2000s
The violence worsened immediately after September 11 and the expulsion of the Taliban from AfghanistanAfghanistan
Afghanistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located in the centre of Asia, forming South Asia, Central Asia and the Middle East. With a population of about 29 million, it has an area of , making it the 42nd most populous and 41st largest nation in the world...
. In 2002, 12 Shia Hazara police cadets were gun downed in Quetta
Quetta
is the largest city and the provincial capital of the Balochistan Province of Pakistan. Known as the "Fruit Garden of Pakistan" due to the diversity of its plant and animal wildlife, Quetta is home to the Hazarganji Chiltan National Park, which contains some of the rarest species of wildlife in the...
. In 2003, the main Shia Friday Mosque was attacked in Quetta, killing 53 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 Shias were killed in an apparent suicide bombing in Karachi. The bomber attacked a Shia procession
Procession
A procession is an organized body of people advancing in a formal or ceremonial manner.-Procession elements:...
which was held to mark Ashoura. Since June 2010 in Karachi, Sipah-e-Sahaba
Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistan
Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistan is a militant Sunni Deobandi organization, and a formerly registered Pakistani political party, established in the early 1980s in Jhang by Maulana Haq Nawaz Jhangvi its stated goal is to primarily to deter major Shia influence in Pakistan in the wake of the Iranian...
is involved in the target killing of seven innocent bystanders and intellectuals; all were from the Twelver Shia Muslim community. Sectarian riots as well as target killing of doctors in the provincial capital have been sending alarm bells to the present democratic system. Karachi had witnessed similar sectarian tension in the early 1980s when then President Zia-ul-Haq was in power. The military regime of those years had been backing certain groups to strengthen its rule and Karachi underwent worst situation after the sectarian riots. The Shia-Sunni clashes had started from the same section of the city (i.e. Godra Colony in New Karachi) after a small incident, and subsequently the clashes gripped the entire city, that hasn't stopped yet and continues.
In early September 2010, three separate attacks were reported in different parts of Pakistan. The first one took place on September 1 in Lahore
September 2010 Lahore bombings
The September 2010 Lahore bombings were a series of three suicide bombings which occurred on September 1, 2010, in Lahore, Pakistan. Thirty-eight were killed and more than 250 were injured when a Shia procession was targeted.-Background:...
where at least 35 Shias were killed and 160 unknown people injured during a procession. The second one was reported to have taken place in Mardan
Mardan
Mardan , known as The city of hospitality, is a city and headquarters of Mardan District in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province, Pakistan. It is the de facto headquarters of the Yousafzai tribe and the second most populous city in the province, located at 34°12'0N 72°1'60E and an altitude of in the south...
on Ahmadiyya
Ahmadiyya
Ahmadiyya is an Islamic religious revivalist movement founded in India near the end of the 19th century, originating with the life and teachings of Mirza Ghulam Ahmad , who claimed to have fulfilled the prophecies about the world reformer of the end times, who was to herald the Eschaton as...
s in which at least one person was killed. The third attack also occurred on September 3 but in the city of Quetta which killed around 56 people during another procession calling for solidarity with Palestinians.
On December 16, a mortar attack killed nine (9) people, including women and children in Hangu, a town that has been a flash point for sectarian clashes between Shia and Sunni communities in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) Province, near tribal area. On the same day in another attack one child was killed and 28 people were wounded in Peshawar, the capital of KP province, as Shia Muslims marked Ashura.
See also
- Sipah-e-Sahaba PakistanSipah-e-Sahaba PakistanSipah-e-Sahaba Pakistan is a militant Sunni Deobandi organization, and a formerly registered Pakistani political party, established in the early 1980s in Jhang by Maulana Haq Nawaz Jhangvi its stated goal is to primarily to deter major Shia influence in Pakistan in the wake of the Iranian...
- Sipah-e-Muhammad PakistanSipah-e-Muhammad PakistanSipah-e-Muhammad Pakistan is a Shi'a militant group formed in the early 1990s as a response to sectarian violence against Pakistani Shia' orchestrated by militant Sunni movements such as Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistan and Lashkar-e-Jhangvi...
- Tehrik-e-JafriaTehrik-e-JafriaTehrik-e-Jafria or Tehrik-e-Jafria-e-Pakistan was a Shia militant group in Pakistan, which was founded in 1979. It's creation coincided with the enforcement of controversial Islamic laws by then President of Pakistan, General Mohammad Zia-ul-Haq...
- Persecution of Shia MuslimsPersecution of Shia MuslimsThe dispute over the right successor to Muhammad resulted in the formation of two main sects, the Sunni, and the Shia. The Sunni, or followers of the way, followed the caliphate and maintained the premise that any devout Muslim could potentially become the successor to the Prophet if accepted by...
- Persecution of AhmadiyyaPersecution of AhmadiyyaThe Persecution of Ahmadis is the religious persecution of Ahmadi Muslims as a consequence of professing their faith. They have been subject to various forms of persecution and discrimination since the movement's inception in 1889...
- Anti-Bihari sentiment
- Pakistani demographics