Photo Credit: The New York Times/ Declan Walsh

The deaths of more than 150 Shiites in the past four weeks have again set off religious sectarian violence in Pakistan. Dozens of Shiite mosques and neighborhoods and Shiite religious processions in the cities of Karachi, Rawalpindi, and Baluchistan were targeted by Tareek-e Taliban Pakistan, aka the “Pakistan Taliban,” and by the extremist group Lashkar-e Jhangvi.

The assassination of a renowned Shia religious scholar, Allama Aftab Haider Jafri, a senior judge, Zulfiqar Naqvi, and a religious leader, Mirza Shahid Ali, last month in Karachi reflects the high-profile nature – and brazenness -- of these targeted killings. In Rawalpindi, Taliban extremists stopped a public bus and singled out 22 Shiite Muslim passengers and then shot them at point-blank range.

The New York Times on December 3, 2012 reported that “For at least a year now, Sunni extremist gunmen have been methodically attacking members of the Hazara community, a Persian-speaking Shiite minority that emigrated here from Afghanistan more than a century ago. The killers strike with chilling abandon, apparently fearless of the law: shop owners are gunned down at their counters, students as they play cricket, pilgrims dragged from buses and executed on the roadside.”

“The bloodshed is part of a wider surge in sectarian violence across Pakistan in which at least 375 Shiites have died this year — the worst toll since the 1990s, human rights workers say,” wrote New York Times reporter Declan Walsh

During the month of Muharram, the first month of the Islamic calendar, Shiites in particular have mourning rituals for the first 10 days to commemorate the martyrdom of descendents of the Prophet. During these religious processions, extremists have used remote control bombs or motorcycle suicide bombers to attack participants.

Despite this drumbeat of terrorist attacks against Shiites over the last few years, the government of Pakistan has arrested only about a dozen suspects. Yet, not a single person to date has been charged or held accountable.   

Religious sectarian divisions in Pakistan were fomented during General Zia ul-Haq’s reign, when he patronized and promoted certain orthodox Sunni sects and supported the training of jihadists for the war in Afghanistan from 1978 through 1988.  Simultaneously, as the ‘Wahabbi-Iranian’ cold war played out in Pakistan, ad hoc militia groups were established to fight and terrorize each other’s neighborhoods.

Pakistan’s religious extremism and sectarianism are furthered complicated by external and internal factors: economic crises, border disputes, cross-border trafficking, war on terror, and international interference in domestic matters rising inequality, religious intolerance, marginalized youth, and the escalation of urban violence by militant groups.

Related Publications

As Fragile Kashmir Cease-Fire Turns Three, Here’s How to Keep it Alive

As Fragile Kashmir Cease-Fire Turns Three, Here’s How to Keep it Alive

Wednesday, February 21, 2024

By: Christopher Clary

At midnight on the night of February 24-25, 2021, India and Pakistan reinstated a cease-fire that covered their security forces operating “along the Line of Control (LOC) and all other sectors” in Kashmir, the disputed territory that has been at the center of the India-Pakistan conflict since 1947. While the third anniversary of that agreement is a notable landmark in the history of India-Pakistan cease-fires, the 2021 cease-fire is fragile and needs bolstering to be maintained.

Type: Analysis

Global Policy

Understanding Pakistan’s Election Results

Understanding Pakistan’s Election Results

Tuesday, February 13, 2024

By: Asfandyar Mir, Ph.D.;  Tamanna Salikuddin

Days after Pakistan’s February 8 general election, the Election Commission of Pakistan released the official results confirming a major political upset. Contrary to what most political pundits and observers had predicted, independents aligned with former Prime Minister Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) won the most seats at the national level, followed by former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) and the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM). No party won an absolute majority needed to form a government on its own. The resultant uncertainty means the United States may have to contend with a government that is more focused on navigating internal politics and less so on addressing strategic challenges.

Type: Analysis

Global Elections & ConflictGlobal Policy

Tamanna Salikuddin on Pakistan’s Elections

Tamanna Salikuddin on Pakistan’s Elections

Monday, February 12, 2024

By: Tamanna Salikuddin

Surprisingly, candidates aligned with former Prime Minister Imran Khan won the most seats in Pakistan’s elections. But while voters “have shown their faith in democracy,” the lack of a strong mandate for any specific leader or institution “doesn’t necessarily bode well for [Pakistan’s] stability,” says USIP’s Tamanna Salikuddin.

Type: Podcast

The 2021 India-Pakistan Ceasefire: Origins, Prospects, and Lessons Learned

The 2021 India-Pakistan Ceasefire: Origins, Prospects, and Lessons Learned

Tuesday, February 6, 2024

By: Christopher Clary

The February 2021 ceasefire between India and Pakistan along the Line of Control in Kashmir has—despite occasional violations—turned into one of the longest-lasting in the countries’ 75-year shared history. Yet, as Christopher Clary writes, the ceasefire remains vulnerable to shocks from terrorist attacks, changes in leadership, and shifting regional relations. With the ceasefire approaching its third anniversary, Clary’s report examines the factors that have allowed it to succeed, signs that it may be fraying, and steps that can be taken to sustain it.

Type: Special Report

Peace Processes

View All Publications