Pakistan's evolving sectarian schism

Sectarian violence bedevilled Karachi in 80s, but has become less commonplace

By Alastair Lawson
BBC News

The deaths of dozens in a bomb explosion at a funeral procession in north-western Pakistan seems to be the latest manifestation of the bitter split between Sunnis and Shias in Pakistan.

No-one has yet claimed responsibility but the suicide blast targeted the funeral of a Shia Muslim cleric who had been gunned down on Thursday.

Over the past 20 years extremists from both groups have attacked each other all over Pakistan, although analysts say that the bulk of the violence more recently has been committed by Sunni militants inspired by al-Qaeda's ideology.

Their attacks over the past five years have borne a startling resemblance to bombings carried out by Sunni militants against Shias in Iraq.

Tough policing

In Pakistan, the focus of the sectarian violence has arguably changed. In the 1980s and 1990s the problem was acute in Karachi and in the province of Sindh.

But tough policing - especially in Karachi - over this period meant that many militants were either killed or arrested.

Shias have in recent years borne the brunt of the violence

The BBC's Syed Shoaib Hasan in Islamabad says that sectarian violence has always worsened in Pakistan when the protagonists have a base from which to operate.

Karachi served this purpose initially, as did Afghanistan prior to the US-led invasion of 2001.

Today that base is the restive tribal region of north-west Pakistan, where the government is struggling to impose its authority.

The list of recent sectarian attacks makes for grim reading:

• Feb 2009: Bomb attack on a Shia procession in Punjab leaving 35 dead
• Dec 2008: 27 people killed in a car bombing at a Shia mosque in Peshawar
• Aug 2008: 21 people killed in sectarian clashes in the Kurram tribal region
• Aug 2008: 25 Shias killed in an attack on a hospital in Dera Ismail Khan
• Mar 2008: 40 people killed in sectarian violence in North-West Frontier Province (NWFP)

As the influence of the Taleban grows in the north-west, the fear is that violent sectarian groups will assert themselves once again across the rest of Pakistan - correspondents say that recent violence in Punjab province could be a reflection of this.

PAKISTAN'S SECTARIAN DIVIDE Shias revere Ali, son-in-law of the Prophet Muhammad Pakistan is 20% Shia, 70% Sunni Violence between Sunni and Shia factions grew worse in the early 1980s Most violence now takes place in the troubled north-west

The two areas today that are identified as Sunni-Shia sectarian hotspots are Dera Ismail Khan, close to the semi-autonomous tribal area - where the most recent attack has taken place - and Hangu in NWFP.

The group accused of orchestrating the violence in recent years is Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, widely seen as the armed wing of the militant Sunni Sipah-e-Sahaba group.

Previously Sipah-e-Sahaba itself was accused of the violence, but many analysts argue that Lashkar-e-Jhangvi - inspired both by al-Qaeda and the Taleban - has now broken away from its parent organisation and is responsible for the use of suicide bombers in many sectarian attacks.

In early Islamic history the Shia were a political faction ("party of Ali") that supported the power of Ali, son-in-law of the Prophet Muhammad and the fourth caliph (temporal and spiritual ruler) of the Muslim community.

Ali was murdered in 661AD and his chief opponent, Muawiya, became caliph. It was Ali's death that led to the great schism between Sunnis and Shias.

Caliph Muawiya was later succeeded by his son Yazid, but Ali's son Hussein refused to accept his legitimacy and fighting between the two resulted.

Hussein and his followers were massacred in battle near Karbala in AD680.

Both Ali and Hussein's death gave rise to the Shia cult of martyrdom and sense of betrayal.

Shia has always been the rigid faith of the poor and oppressed waiting for deliverance. It is seen as a messianic faith which awaits the coming of the "hidden Imam", Allah's messenger who will reverse their fortunes and herald the reign of divine justice.

Today, they make up about 15% of the total worldwide Muslim population.

Zia's legacy

Thousands of people have been killed in Shia-Sunni violence since the 1980s across Pakistan.

President Asif Ali Zardari is not the only Pakistani leader to have been beset with such problems, which most analysts agree began in 1979 when Gen Zia ul-Haq began Islamicising Pakistani politics to legitimise his military rule.

Most Muslims in Pakistan live side by side peacefully

As a result, hardline religious groups were strengthened.

This coincided with a period when parts of Pakistan came to be awash with weaponry as a result of the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in late 1979.

US arms and Saudi funds allowed Gen Zia to mount a proxy war in Afghanistan with mujahideen, or holy warriors.

Drawn from Pakistani as well as Afghan and Arab youths mostly educated at religious schools, the mujahideen and their patrons were to become influential actors in Pakistan.

Because Sunnis form a large majority in Pakistan, most of the mujahideen were Sunni too.

Radical Sunni Islamists were able to establish armed groups like Sipah-e-Sahaba.

Shia fighters too joined the jihad, or holy war, against the Soviets in Afghanistan, although their bands were smaller.

They received help from Iran where the Islamic revolution earlier in 1979 had boosted Shia confidence.

The growth of Shia militancy led to the establishment of militant groups such as Tehrik-e-Jafria who have been accused of carrying out tit-for tat attacks on Sunnis.

After dozens were killed in sectarian attacks, General Pervez Musharraf launched a campaign against extremism in January 2002, banning the worst-offending groups.

However, that initiative, along with others launched before it, manifestly failed. Sectarian violence - like militancy in the north-west - seems to be a Pakistani problem that will not go away.