Religious group conflicts in Pakistan

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Religious conflict in Pakistan exists between the predominant Sunnis and the Shiite minority.

Among those accused of interdenominational violence in the country are primarily Sunni militants such as Sipah-e-Sahaba and members of Shiite militant groups such as Tehrik-e-Jafria and others. However, Sunni terrorist groups are accused of frequent attacks on the Shiite minority and their religious assemblies, leading to attacks of revenge in the opposite direction.

background

According to the Library of Congress , Pew Research Center , Oxford University , the CIA Factbook, and other experts, Shia in Pakistan is 5–25% of the total Muslim population, while Sunni Islam comprises the remaining 75–95%.

Although Shiites are a minority there, Pakistan has the second largest Shiite community after Iran . The total Shiite population in Pakistan is roughly 50 million to 60 million, according to Vali Nasr . On a global scale , Shiite Islam is represented by 10–20% of total Muslims , while the remaining 90% practice Sunni Islam .

Reign of Zia-ul-Haq

In the early years of the interdenominational conflict, extremist Sunnis clashed with Ahmadiyyas until the latter were officially declared non-Muslims by a 1974 constitutional amendment by the Pakistani National Assembly. Under the continued reign of Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq , sectarianism in Pakistan, particularly in Karachi and southern Punjab, became quite violent as the process of Islamization began in Pakistani jurisprudence.

The Pakistani textbook controversy manifested the massive pushing back of Indian and Hindu influences.

Social laws that were tolerant of the open sale of alcohol , the mixing of the sexes, etc., were severely restricted by Zia's laws, even if hardliners in both Shiite and Sunni camps were predominantly in favor of these restrictions. The course of events raised questions on which Sunni and Shiite viewpoints differed. In such cases, Zia preferred the Sunni interpretation of Islam over the Shiite one, creating a rift between the two societies.

Financing by Iran and Arab states

Iranian funding for Shiite extremists and Arab states, particularly Saudi Arabia and GCC states that fund radical extremist Sunnis in Pakistan, are exacerbating tensions, leading to mutual tit-for-tat attacks.

procedure

The violence worsened immediately after September 11th and the removal of the Taliban from Afghanistan . In 2002, 12 Hazara Shiite police officers were gunned down in Quetta . In 2003 the main Shia Friday mosque in Quetta was attacked, killing 53 worshipers. On March 2, 2004, at least 42 people were killed and more than 100 wounded when a procession of Shiite Muslims was attacked by rival Sunni extremists in Quetta's Liaquat Bazaar. Separately, on October 7, 2004, a car bomb in Multan killed 40 members of an extremist Sunni organization. 300 people died in 2006.

However, there has been an overall decline in violence since 9/11 as Saudi money sources have become less willing to fund Sunni extremists amid increased scrutiny of Saudi ties to hardline extremists.

On December 29, 2009, no fewer than 40 Shiites were killed in an alleged suicide attack in Karachi. The bomber attacked a Shiite procession that was taking place in Ashura . Since June 2010, Sipah-e-Sahaba has been terrorist in Karachi with the targeted killing of seven innocent passers-by and intellectuals; all victims belonged to the Muslim community of the Twelve Shia . Confessional riots as well as the targeted killing of doctors in the provincial capital acted as an alarm signal for Pakistan's current democratic system. Karachi had experienced similar sectarian tension in the early 1980s when President Zia-ul-Haq was in power. The military regime of those years had supported certain groups to strengthen its rule. Karachi was exposed to a dire situation after the denominational riots. After a minor incident, the Shiite-Sunni clashes had started in the same district (i.e. Godra Colony in New Karachi), and then the fighting had the entire city under its control. This continues to this day.

In early September 2010, three separate attacks were reported in different parts of Pakistan. The first, in which at least 35 Shiites were killed and 160 unknown people injured during a procession, took place on September 1 in Lahore . The second, in which at least one person was killed, was reported to have taken place in Mardan against Ahmadiyyas . The third attack also occurred on September 3, but in the city of Quetta, killing 56 people during another procession calling for solidarity with Palestinians .

On December 16, a mortar attack killed nine people, including women and children, in Hangu, a city that has been a focus of denominational clashes between Shiite and Sunni communities in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) province, near the tribal area. On the same day, in another attack in Peshawar, capital of KP province, a child was killed and 28 people wounded while Shiite Muslims celebrated Ashura.

See also

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Pakistan's militant Islamic groups. In: BBC News. January 13, 2002, accessed on August 28, 2010 : “ Sipah-e-Sahaba or the Army of Prophet Mohammad's companions is a radical group from the majority Sunni sect of Islam. Tehrik-e-Jafria or the Movement of Followers of Shia Sect was founded in 1979. "
  2. ^ Pakistan's militant Islamic groups. In: BBC News . January 13, 2002, accessed May 29, 2012 .
  3. ↑ ATTACKS ON SHIAS IN PAKISTAN, A MESSAGE TO IRAN TOO: INTERNATIONAL TERRORISM MONITOR - PAPER NO. 674. ( Memento of March 2, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) South Asian Analysis , September 4, 2010.
  4. ↑ a b Country Profile: Pakistan 75.6% ate = February 2005. (PDF; 213 kB) In: Library of Congress Country Studies on Pakistan. Library of Congress , accessed September 1, 2010 : “ Religion: The overwhelming majority of the population (96.3 percent) is Muslim, of whom approximately percent are Sunni and 25 percent Shia. "
  5. ↑ a b c d Mapping the Global Muslim Population: A Report on the Size and Distribution of the World's Muslim Population. In: Pew Research Center . October 7, 2009, accessed August 24, 2010 .
  6. ↑ a b c Tracy Miller (Ed.): Mapping the Global Muslim Population: A Report on the Size and Distribution of the World's Muslim Population . Pew Research Center , 2009 ( pewforum.org [PDF; accessed August 25, 2010]). Mapping the Global Muslim Population: A Report on the Size and Distribution of the World's Muslim Population ( Memento of the original from October 10, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / pewforum.org
  7. ↑ Pakistan, Islam in. In: Oxford Center for Islamic Studies . Oxford University Press , accessed August 29, 2010 : “ Approximately 97 percent of Pakistanis are Muslim. The majority are Sunnis following the Hanafi school of Islamic law. Between 10 and 15 percent are Shiis, mostly Twelvers. "
  8. ↑ Religions: Muslim 95% (Sunni 70%, Shia 25%), other (includes Christian and Hindu) 5%. In: Central Intelligence Agency . The World Factbook on Pakistan, 2010, accessed August 24, 2010 .
  9. ↑ Pakistan - International Religious Freedom Report 2008. In: United States Department of State . Retrieved August 28, 2010 : “ The majority of Muslims in the country are Sunni, with a Shi'a minority ranging between 10 to 20 percent. "
  10. ↑ a b Pilgrimage to Karbala - Sunni and Shia: The Worlds of Islam. PBS , March 26, 2007, accessed September 1, 2010 .
  11. ^ Vali Nasr, Joanne J. Myers: The Shia Revival: How Conflicts within Islam Will Shape the Future. ( Memento from October 26, 2006 in the web archive archive.today ) October 18, 2006: Iran always had been a Shia country, the largest one, with about 60 million population. Pakistan is the second-largest Shia country in the world, with about 50-60 million population.
  12. ↑ Shīʿite. In: Encyclopædia Britannica . Encyclopædia Britannica Online, 2010, accessed August 25, 2010 : “ Shīʿites have come to account for roughly one-tenth of the Muslim population worldwide. "
  13. ↑ Religions. In: CIA . The World Factbook , 2010, accessed on August 29, 2010 : " Shia Islam represents 20% of Muslims worldwide ... "
  14. ↑ Sunnite. In: Encyclopædia Britannica . Encyclopædia Britannica Online, 2010, accessed August 24, 2010 : “ They numbered about 900 million in the late 20th century and constituted nine-tenths of all the adherents of Islām. "
  15. ^ Zahid Hussain: Frontline Pakistan: The Struggle With Militant Islam . Columbia University Press, 2008, ISBN 978-0-231-14225-0 , pp. 93 ( google.com [accessed September 18, 2010]).
  16. ↑ Pakistan's Shia-Sunni divide. In: BBC News . June 1, 2004, accessed August 24, 2010 .
  17. ^ Carnage in Pakistan Shia attack. In: BBC News. March 2, 2004, accessed August 24, 2010 .
  18. ↑ Shiite-Sunni conflict rises in Pakistan. In: David Montero. February 2, 2007, accessed August 24, 2010 .
  19. ↑ S. Raza Hassan: Karachi in grip of grief and anger as blast toll rises to 43. ( Memento of March 29, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) In: Dawn News . December 30, 2009.
  20. ↑ Police say attacks on Pakistani minorities kill 44 ( Memento of October 3, 2010 in the Internet Archive )
  21. ^ Aftab Alexander Mughal: Pakistan: Taliban continues onslaught against minorities. ( Memento of July 16, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) enerpub , December 29, 2010.