JOIN USSectarian violence has raised its ugly head again in Pakistan. Barely four months after violent attacks on the Ahmadiyyas, suicide attacks on Shia processions in Lahore and Quetta have killed around a hundred people. The Pakistan Taliban has claimed responsibility for the attacks and has said these are in retaliation for the killing of Maulana Ali Shair Haidree, leader of the Sunni extremist Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistan (SSP) in Sindh in August last year. Although that killing was believed to have been prompted by personal rivalry, the SSP had blamed Shia extremist groups. The pattern of violence is familiar. Terror outfits justify their own attacks by drawing attention to violence by others. However, nothing justifies the ongoing attacks and counter-attacks in Pakistan. Those who died in Lahore and Quetta were innocent people. At a time when millions of Pakistanis are reeling under the impact of one of the worst ever floods the country has suffered, terrorists have dealt the people another deadly blow.
Even as Pakistan and the world focuses on the violence in the tribal regions and the North West Frontier Province (NWFP), Lahore’s quiet emergence as a centre of terrorism is going ignored. This city, known as Pakistan’s cultural capital, is becoming associated with sectarian intolerance. This year alone it has witnessed five major terrorist attacks, which have left over 230 people dead. In May, there were blasts in Ahmadiyya places of worship. In July, Sufi shrines came under attack. It is well known that Pakistan’s Punjab province is a nursery for terrorist groups, sectarian and those that are mainly anti-India. It was here that groups like the Lashkar-e-Toiba were born and nurtured.
Decades ago, the Pakistan government set up Sunni extremist outfits like the SSP. In recent years, however, it has been cracking down on these groups. The target of its ongoing military operations is also outfits like the Taliban, groups that directly challenge the writ of the Pakistani state. However, if the capacities of these groups remain unweakened, this is because of the government’s selective approach — cracking down on sectarian outfits even as it nurtures groups like Lashkar. The government is refusing to read the writing on the wall. These groups help each other and draw on support from a common source — the ISI. The ISI-created infrastructure of terrorism must be dismantled. Else, sectarian violence like those in Lahore will tear the country apart.