PROTESTERS AGAINST KALABAGH DAM IN KARACHI(DAWN NEWS,APRIL 2009)

THE PEOPLE KILLED BY BALOCHISTAN LIBERATION FRONT (BLA),TAKEN DOWN FROM A BUS.MOST WERE

PUNJABIS, MUHAJIRS AND PUKHTOONS

THE RELATIVES OF SHIAS OF HAZARA COMMUNITY PROTESTING AGAINST GOVERNMENT WITH DEAD BODIES ON ROADS

QUETTA (2013)

It is narrow-minded devotion to a particular sect or group, especially adherence or excessive devotion to a particular sect, especially in religion. It is hatred arising from attaching importance to perceived differences between subdivisions within a group, such as between different denominations of a religion, class, regional or a political movement.

Sectarianism is the effort of making your group the most superior and dominating as compared to the rest, by all fair or unfair means.

The dark shadow we seem to see in the distance is not really a mountain ahead, but the shadow of the mountain behind -a shadow from the past thrown forward into our future. It is a dark sludge of historical sectarianism. We can leave it behind us if we wish.

DAVID TRIMBLE

It can be divided to 3 main subtypes

Religious sectarianism

It means to discriminate on the basis of religious

differences.

Political sectarianism

It means to differentiate on the basis of political

differences.

Cultural/Ethnic/Linguistic sectarianism

It refers to segregation on basis of ethnicity, language,

culture, caste etc

CORE ISSUE OF PAKISTAN

RELATED TO OUR EVERY DAY LIFE

REASON OF THE ISSUES SUCH AS

TERRORISM,POLITICAL INSTABILITY, LAW

AND ORDER.

DISTRACTION FROM NATIONAL GOALS

INDIVIDUAL LEVEL PROBLEMS

DYSFUNCTIONING OF SOCIETY

INITIATED IN GOVERNMENT OF ZIA-UL-HAQ BY HIS

ISLAMIZATION POLICIES IN EARLY 1980 AND 1990 ERA.

PEOPLE OF SHIA SECT WERE FORCED TO ACCEPT SUNNI WAY

OF LIFE.

THE RAPID CHANGES IN GEO-POLITICAL SITUATIONS,IRAN

REVOLUTION, RUSSIAN INVASION ON AFGHANISTAN, PROXY-

WAR OF MUJAHIDEENS IN AFGAN AREAS AND MADRASAH

SYSTEM WERE A STRONG FACTOR.

THE SOCIOECONOMIC STRESSES SERVED AS A PROPULSION TO

ENGINE.

THE NEGLECT OF NATIONAL INSTITUTIONS RELATED TO LAW

AND ORDER MAINTENANCE SERVED TO INCREASE

FAVORABILITY FOR SECTARIANISM.

PROTESTERS MARCH AGAINST THE SHIA GENOCIDE

RELIGIOUS SECTARIANISM

PAKISTAN’S FIRST AND FOREMOST ISSUE IS

RELATED TO RELIGION. WE ARE A RELIGION

BASED SOCIETY.

Pakistan may include the Sunni majority, Shia,

and the small Ahmadi and Christian religious

groups.

According to the Human Rights Watch, in

2011 and 2012, Pakistan minority groups Shia,

Ahmadi, and Christians faced unprecedented

insecurity and persecution in the country.

Attacks on Sunni Sufi shrines by "militants"

have also been reported.

Among those blamed for the sectarian

violence in the country are mainly

militants such as Sipah-e-Sahaba, Tehrik-

e -Taliban Pakistan, and members of Shia

militant groups such as Sipah-e-

Muhammad Pakistan.

According to Library of Congress, Pew Research Center, Oxford University, the CIA, Factbook and other experts, Shia Islam in Pakistan make up 15-25% while the remaining 70-85%is Sunni Islam.

An estimated 2.3% of the population are Ahmadis who are officially considered non-Muslims by virtue of a 1974 constitutional amendment.

Non-Muslim religions include Hinduism and Christianity each with 2,800,000 (1.6%) adherents as of 2005.The Bahá'í Faith, has a following of 30,000, then Sikhism, Buddhism and Parsis, each claiming 20,000 adherents,and a very small community of Jains.

In the early years of sectarian conflict, extremist

Sunnis clashed with Ahmadis, until they were

declared non-Muslims in 1974 by the national

assembly of Pakistan through an amendment in

constitution.

Under continuing rule of Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq,

sectarianism in Pakistan, especially in Karachi and

South Punjab, became quite violent as the process of

Islamization began in the Pakistani judicial system.

Since the year 2000, over 2000 Shia Hazara community members including many women and children have been killed or wounded in attacks perpetrated by SunniMuslim terrorists affiliated with Al-Qaeda and Taliban in southwestern town of Quetta.

On December 28, 2009, as many as 40 Shias were killed in an apparent suicide bombing in Karachi.

Since June 2010 in Karachi, Sipah-e-Sahaba is involved in the target killing of seven innocent bystanders and intellectuals; all were from the TwelverShia Muslim community.

On 03 March, 2013 a power full bomb blast in the city of

Karachi in the area of Abbas Town killed 45 people and

wounded 150 others. The bomb blast destroyed building

and set others building on fire.

Karachi had witnessed similar sectarian tension in the

early 1980s when then President Zia-ul-Haq was in

power. The military regime of those years had been

backing certain groups to strengthen its rule and Karachi

underwent worst situation after the sectarian riots.

First they came for the communists, and I did not

speak out—because I was not a communist;

Then they came for the socialists, and I did not

speak out—because I was not a socialist;

Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not

speak out—because I was not a trade unionist;

Then they came for the Jews, and I did not

speak out—because I was not a Jew;

Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak out for me.”

Martin Niemöller

The above mentioned poem represents a dire situation of political sectarianism that is prevailing in our country. The country is divided into many political groups and they are interested more in the political powers of their group as compared to rest of the things on Earth. The main reason of this political sectarianism is political gains over other group.

All the political groups have their own system of selection; they have local area administrators not necessarily among common people, but also from the gangsters, criminals etc. to maintain their power. Karachi is the biggest example, where people are so afraid of specific political parties that they don’t dare to go against them.

The Pakistani country is divided into many cultures,

tribes and language groups. We have over 200

language groups, above 20 ethnicities and 7 major

cultures(punjabi, sindhi, balochi, pakhtoon, kashmiri,

hazara and seraiki).

All the people in these groups are in conflict on

theses basis with each other.

One issue is the Kalabagh dam,which is not

being made only because of the provincial

differences.

Moreover, there is demand of seperation in

other provinces on base of ethnic and cultural

differences, e.g BLF (Balochistan Liberation

Front) is an army of rebels of state who want

to turn Balochistan into a separate state.

Month Incidents Killed Injured

January 15 124 176

February 26 141 227

March 8 9 2

April 2 2 0

TOTAL

51 276 405

Quest for Islamic Nationalism

Religious Politics and Education

Political Blame Games and Divisions

Weaknesses in Prosecution and Criminal Justice

System

Ideological Conflicts:

Proliferation of Small Arms and Light Weapons

Regional aspects

International politics Misinterpretation of religious concepts Prejudice Rigidity Lack of resources Deprivation of rights Socio-economic conditions Illiteracy Lack of fundamental resources Lack of positive activities Intolerance Personal gains

Economic downfall

The society is very unstable and its economic condition is

extremely disturbed due to sectarian conflicts.

Political unrest

There is a tug-of war of the stronger groups and the others,

especially in political field. So the country is never under a

proper leader.

Instability

The division of society into non-homogenous groups turns

every thing prone to conflicts, so the level of doubt and

uncertainty arises

Dependency on foreign aid

As the country is not able to do anything because its people are

fighting all time, the general mass is dependent on foreign aid.

Weak defense against enemies

The weak economy makes it unable for a country to defend

itself from its enemies on all levels. There is a set-back in

every field.

Unable to preserve the culture

The people get bore and bizarre about their own culture finding

it cumbersome to be with, it turns so disturbing that they are

inclined to find a new way of life.

Chaos in every field

People are not able to take a stand and there is a huge

chaos in every field of life as the basic resources

needed to groom are missing.

Inability to continue any direction

The country lacks its true path. Every sect tries to

impose its own ways and considers rest as cheap and

not appropriate.

Frustration

feelings of fear

Terrorism

feelings of hatred

Lack of self-proficiency

Un-loyalty

inferiority complex

Brain-drain

Lack of basic facilities of life

Muhammad Salf Khan and Waliuddin (1995) P.U conducted a research on the

impact of the sectarianism on psychological health of society. The results were that

the the index of depression aroused on scale as the people were exposed to more

sectarianism-oriented settings.

Alya Bukhari (2002) BZU studied effects of ethical differences and the academic

achievements of students in postgraduate level. Thus the results found were that the

ethical differences were highlighted more in students that showed lower self-esteem

and previous educational achievements, as compared to ones with high achievers.

Pakistan Institute of Social Research( funded by UNO and working under Interior

Ministry)Karachi ,conducted a survey in 2001 about the effect of sunni-shia

conflicts on workplace and intimate relationing. Almost 73 % reported to deal with

opposite sect person at workplace without any issue,62 % reported to hide their

inner dislike in front of them and 81 % reported not to prefer any intimate

relationning with opposite sect.

Chaudhry Ammar Yaseen,Sheikh Ali and Saud Rehman(2005) studied the effects of cultural differences on economic growth of Pakistan. They found that the urbanized areas with higher cultural differences are able to be more productive as compared to less urbanized ones.

Hadia Hussain (2007) conducted a poll survey related to preference of the selection of same ethnic member in interviews by interview takers. It was found that a very high ratio 7:2 of preferrers among non-preferrers was found. The Punjabis tended to support Punjabis, same was the case with Pathans, Sindhis and other groups.

In different magazines like Readers Digest (2008) New York Times (2006), Pakistani society was rated as one among those countries having highest rate of sectarian violence, in 2000, sectarian conflicts had an average of 70/500 cases in local police stations. In 2006, it was 210/ 500 and in 2008, it was 232/500. It also includes the cases indirectly associated with sectarianism.

There is an increase in violent tendencies in areas prone to sectarian conflicts, according to a research of American Study Centre For South Asia and South-East Asia (2009). The tribal, rural and the secluded areas of Pakistan are prone to more sectarian conflicts including racial, linguistic, religious and political clashes. Most of people involved in such conflicts are aged 18-25 and they are funded by different authorities in their specific areas.

A study by Aleem Agha (2012) shows that the people involved in sectarianism are mentally less capable as compared to the people not involved. They have lower intelligence and psychological health.