Sectarian Violence in Pakistan

The sectarian issue in Pakistan is a major destabilizing factor in the country’s political, social, religious, and security order. This tool was used to divide the Muslims of Pakistan on sectarian grounds, assassination, and other terrorist acts.

Pakistan is the second largest Muslim country in the world which is facing an uphill task of curbing intolerance, hate, extremism, and violence targeting largely Shia or Sunni communities. Sunni population in Pakistan is 76% of the total population while the Shia population is roughly 15%. 

The worst part of sectarian violence in Pakistan is a periodic attack on each other’s mosques and religious schools by various extremist Shia and Sunni groups. In the late 19’s, the intensity got sparked, as a result of sustained violence against each other, a stage came when some Sunni and Shia groups began to declare each other as non-Muslims. By attacking each other’s religious beliefs, various Sunni and Shiite leaders augmented instability and crisis at the societal level.  

This divide and rule concept has severe implications in the Middle Eastern side where the countries first divided on sectarian grounds, tried to exploit the issue for political objectives, and then ruled by External Elite. The same model was imposed on Pakistan both internally and externally just to sabotage the stability of Pakistan – the history of the sectarian conflict as old as the existence of Pakistan with varying intensity.

Many researchers believe that Islamization was the root cause of intensifying the violent turn in Pakistan in the 1980s, I argued this belief because it has no link with any regime or any movement, it is based on some extremist mindset who promoted hatred speech amongst different sects in the society by using different media tools like electronic media, print media, and now social media.

Media has more power now unlike in the recent past – the content based on violence, fallacies, religious discrimination, and extremism creates severe problems in a society where digital literacy is very low, people certainly believe in fake news and their minds are influenced by media.

Another concern is the emerging sectarian groups in Pakistan which further creates discrimination amongst different sects – you just name them. Dozens of groups arise and ultimately the sectarian riots get in full shape and you can’t expect mercy from them especially when the adversaries hijacked them.

What is the role of external factors in augmenting the sectarian divide in Pakistan and why foreign forces got a free hand to launch their proxy war in Pakistan on sectarian grounds?

The assertion of militant Sunni and Shia Islam is the outcome of external factors. Iran and Saudi Arabia were held responsible mostly for fighting their proxy sectarian war in Pakistan.

The imposition of Fiqah-i-Jafria in Iran by Ayatullah Khomeini and the fear of a revolution spillover in the neighboring countries led the Arab world, particularly Iraq and Saudi Arabia, to a confrontational path with Tehran. This perceived fear engaged Iran and Saudi Arabia in a proxy war for religious-political influence and clout in Pakistan, Iranians were most likely assisting Pakistani’s Shi’a with money and Saudis to Sunni sectarian groups.

To some extent, we can’t just say that this is the only external factor that triggered the Sectarian violence because those factors provide a path to an enemy to be involved in sectarian matters and promote religious violence by hijacking the state and non-state actors element against the states.