Pakistan: War of the Sects
On April 19, 2010, a
14-year old suicide bomber walked into a crowd, mainly comprising
Jamaat-e-Islami (JeI) demonstrators protesting ‘load shedding’, at the bustling
Qissa Khwani Bazaar of Peshawar, the capital city of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (KP,
formerly the North West Frontier Province, NWFP). 23 persons, were killed,
including three Police personnel, JeI city Naib (deputy) Ameer Dost
Muhammad and JeI Dir-Bajaur Qaumi Jirga (community council) Chairman
Ghausur Rehman. While most of the victims were Sunni, the Police said the target
of the child-bomber was Peshawar Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Gulfat
Hussain, a Shia. -- Tushar Ranjan Mohanty
Photo: Shia chidren killed in
ambush on school van in northwest Pakistan in
Feb,2009
Tushar Ranjan
Mohanty
Research Assistant, Institute for Conflict
Management
As terrorism thrives, sectarianism
emboldens its spirit in Pakistan’s chaotic
state.
On April 19, 2010, a 14-year old
suicide bomber walked into a crowd, mainly comprising Jamaat-e-Islami (JeI)
demonstrators protesting ‘load shedding’, at the bustling Qissa Khwani Bazaar of
Peshawar, the capital city of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (KP, formerly the North West
Frontier Province, NWFP). 23 persons, were killed, including three Police
personnel, JeI city Naib (deputy) Ameer Dost Muhammad and JeI
Dir-Bajaur Qaumi Jirga (community council) Chairman Ghausur Rehman. While
most of the victims were Sunni, the Police said the target of the child-bomber
was Peshawar Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Gulfat Hussain, a
Shia.
This was not the first instance when a
senior officer belonging to a rival sect was targeted by sectarian extremists.
In the last such instance, on January 14, 2009, unidentified assailants killed
four Policemen, including a Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP), in a shootout
in Quetta, capital of Balochistan. Three of the murdered Policemen belonged to
the Hazara community and were Shia. "It was a target killing and Police officers
belonging to the Hazara tribe were targeted," an unnamed senior Police officer
had then confirmed. The Sunni militant group Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LeJ) had then claimed
responsibility.
The April 19 incident was just
another link in an incessant succession of sectarian killings in Pakistan.
Earlier, on April 17, 2010, two burqa (veil)-clad suicide bombers targeted a
crowd of Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs), waiting to register and receive
relief goods, at the Kacha Pakka IDP camp on the outskirts of Kohat in KP. 44
persons were killed and more than 70 were injured. The LeJ’s Al-Aalmi faction
claimed responsibility for the bombings and cited the presence of Shias at the
IDP camp as the reason for the attack. On April 16, a suicide bomber blew
himself up in an attack inside the Civil Hospital in Quetta, killing 11 persons,
including two DSPs, and injuring 35 others. According to reports, unidentified
assailants riding a motorcycle first killed Ashraf Zaidi, the son of the chief
of the Shia Conference, Balochistan. As a number of sympathizers and onlookers
gathered at the Hospital, where the body was brought, a suicide bomber
struck.
Sectarian attacks ordinarily spike during the religious months and
festivals, and attacks on religious processions and congregations have become
commonplace in the daily lives of the people. Nevertheless, data on sectarian
incidents over the past
years, demonstrates that the sectarian rivalry is not limited to these
periods alone, and can erupt anywhere, at any point of time. 2010 has already
witnessed 12 sectarian attacks, among which the most significant incidents
include:
March 5: 12 persons, including four
women, were killed and 33 were injured when a suicide bomber targeted a
Parachinar-bound civilian convoy carrying Shia passengers in the Tull area of
Hangu in KP. "The target was a Shia convoy. This is sectarian violence," Kohat
Division Commissioner Khalid Umarzai
confirmed.
March 1: Seven people were killed
and 44 were injured in sectarian violence in the Dera Ismail Khan area of KP.
"All the dead are Sunnis, there are some Shias among the injured," District
Police Chief Gul Afzal Afridi disclosed.
Sectarian Violence in Pakistan:
2002-2010
|
Year
|
Incidents
|
Killed
|
Injured
|
|
2010*
|
12
|
116
|
272
|
|
2009
|
106
|
190
|
398
|
|
2008
|
97
|
306
|
505
|
|
2007
|
341
|
441
|
630
|
|
2006
|
38
|
201
|
349
|
|
2005
|
62
|
160
|
354
|
|
2004
|
19
|
187
|
619
|
|
2003
|
22
|
102
|
103
|
|
2002
|
63
|
121
|
257
|
*Data till April 23,
2010
Source: South Asia Terrorism Portal [Since media access is heavily
restricted in the conflict areas of Pakistan, and there is only fitful release
of information by Government agencies, the actual figures could be much
higher]
Incidents and casualties in the
first four months of 2010 are indicative of an increasing lethality of attacks.
While 190 killings and 272 injuries were recorded in a total of 106 incidents in
2009, 2010 has already seen 116 killings and 272 injuries in just 12
incidents.
Among the primary targets of this
sectarian violence are places of worship of the rival sects. The data reflects
an year to year increase in incidents targeting places of worship, with the
exception of years 2005 and 2006.
Sectarian attacks on Mosque in
Pakistan
|
Year
|
Incidents
|
Killed
|
Injured
|
|
2010*
|
1
|
30
|
110
|
|
2009
|
17
|
277
|
671
|
|
2008
|
12
|
100
|
248
|
|
2007
|
6
|
85
|
156
|
|
2006
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
|
2005
|
4
|
35
|
123
|
|
2004
|
7
|
88
|
272
|
|
2003
|
4
|
65
|
69
|
|
2002
|
1
|
1
|
0
|
*Data till April 23,
2010
Source: South Asia Terrorism Portal
Source: South Asia Terrorism Portal
Another soft target of this chronic
animosity has been the religious leadership of the respective sects, in a
tit-for-tat sequence that never ends. While earlier incidents were restricted to
mob violence or grenade attacks, these have now overwhelmingly been replaced by
suicide bombers targeting religious processions and rallies. In just the first
four months of 2010, the following attacks targeting rival religious leaders
have been recorded:
March 11: The noted religious leader
and chief of the Aalmi Majlis-e-Tahafuza-e-Khatam-e-Naboowat (AMTKN), Mufti
Saeed Jalalpuri, was shot dead along with three associates in
Karachi.
An attempt was also made on Maulana Abdul Ghafoor Nadeem, a leader of
the Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistan (SSP), in which he was injured, while his son was
killed.
February 22: A prominent member of
the Shia community, Dr. Syed Saqlain Haider Kazmi, was shot dead while his
friend sustained injuries when unidentified assailants opened fire on them in
the Yakatoot area of Peshawar.
January 5: An Ahmadi leader,
Muhammad Yousaf (70), was shot dead in the Ferozewala Police Station area of
Karachi. The family of Muhammad Yousaf, leader of the Ahmadi community in
Ferozewala, alleged that unidentified persons killed him because he demanded
that the Police act against groups creating religious strife in the
area.
The primary player in the sectarian
violence is the LeJ, which was formed in 1996. The LeJ aims to transform
Pakistan into a Sunni state, primarily through violence. Muhammad
Ajmal alias Akram Lahori is the
present Saalar-i-Aala (‘Commander-in-Chief’) of the LeJ. Lahori has been
in Police custody since his arrest from Orangi Town in Karachi on June 17, 2002.
Although Lahori officially remains the LeJ chief, Qari Mohammad Zafar is now
believed to be the tactical ‘commander’, while operational command is understood
to have moved to middle ranking leaders. Worryingly, despite several
‘crackdowns’ by security agencies and the arrest of some 20 high profile cadres
in 2009, the LeJ organisation appears to retain enormous capacities for
violence.
The April 16, 2010, attack at
the Civil Hospital at Quetta, moreover, demonstrates that the LeJ is now
adopting patterns of multiple and coordinated attacks long used by the Taliban
and al Qaeda. LeJ’s links with these groups have been of long standing, and a
sharing of operational and training resources is now evident, something that
does not augur well for the authorities in
Islamabad.
The Government has acknowledged
these risks. On March 17, Interior Minister Rehman Malik said that a ‘decisive
operation’ would be launched against banned sectarian outfits if they did not
refrain from carrying out terrorist attacks in the country. Malik claimed that
the defunct SSP and theLeJ were behind 90 per cent of the terrorist attacks in
Punjab.
Despite the eyewash of a crackdown
and some arrests, however, no sustained effort to dismantle the sectarian
groups, particularly the Sunni formations that have powerful links with the
religious parties and the Pakistani establishment, is visible. Indeed, the
impulse of sectarianism is deeply rooted in Pakistan’s society and structure of
power, and extremist violence manifests an entrenched social divide. Unless
Pakistan’s political wellsprings are cleansed of extremist ideologies, their
manifestation in militancy and violence cannot be
contained.
Courtesy: South Asia Intelligence Review
[SAIR]
2:51 AM
Sultan Shahin
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