http://www.aljazeera.com/programmes/insidestory/2013/02/201321871913942381.html
Pakistan's sectarian tensions
As attacks continue on Shias in Balochistan, we ask if the government is doing
enough to protect minority communities.
Inside Story Last Modified: 18 Feb 2013 10:21
A bomb attack on Shia Muslims in Pakistan's Balochistan province has killed
more than 80 people and injured almost 200 others.
Almost a tonne of explosives tore through a crowded market in a largely Shia
neighbourhood in Quetta in southwestern Balochistan. This was the second major
attack this year.
A bomb attack in the provincial capital last month killed at least 92 people.
Shia community leaders say the Pakistani government is not doing enough to
protect them, and is unable or unwilling to take on those responsible.
The banned Sunni Muslim group Lashkar-e-Jhangvi says it carried out both
attacks.
The group, which was founded in the late 1990s, was banned in Pakistan in 2001
and designated a terrorist group by the US in 2003.
It is known to have ties to other networks, such as the Pakistan and Afghan
Taliban. And it has been linked to major attacks such as the 2007 assassination
of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto.
Most of Pakistan's Muslim population is Sunni, with between 10 and 20 percent
estimated to be Shia.
The longstanding conflict between the two groups stems from a disagreement over
who was the rightful successor of the Prophet Muhammad after his death.
Many people in the Shia community in Quetta are ethnic Hazaras. Some of their
ancestors migrated from Afghanistan to Pakistan and Iran over a hundred years
ago. More than 650,000 now live in Pakistan - mainly in Balochistan's capital.
The Hazara Organisation for Peace and Equality says more than a thousand
Hazaras have been killed in Pakistan since 1999. But in the last 15 years, they
say, no one has been brought to justice.
Balochistan is Pakistan's largest province by area. It is about the size of
France, and bordered by Afghanistan and Iran. But it is the smallest in terms
of population - estimated at a little under eight million.
The province has vast reserves of oil and gas, gold, copper and uranium; and
that is contributing to a separatist rebellion.
Nationalist groups are demanding political autonomy, and a greater share of
profits from the region's resources. And they are joining forces to take on
Pakistan's military.
To discuss Pakistan's sectarian tensions, Inside Story, with presenter Jane
Dutton, is joined by guests: Abdul Khalique Hazara, the chairman of the Hazara
Democratic Party, representing Shia Muslims in Pakistan; Stephen Cohen, a
senior fellow in foreign policy studies at the Brookings Institution; and Zaid
Hamid, a political analyst and head of the Pakistani think tank, Brasstacks.
SECTARIAN TENSIONS
At least 600,000 Hazaras live in Quetta in Pakistan's Balochistan
Hazaras come from a region in central Afghanistan known as the Hazarajat
Hazaras are Shia Muslims in mainly Sunni Afghanistan and Pakistan
Some Sunni groups accuse Hazaras of being Iran's proxies in Pakistan
Sunni and Shia Muslims make up the two different branches of Islam
The Sunni-Shia split occurred after Prophet Muhammad's death in 632 AD
Syria and Iran are Shia governed but Syria has a Sunni majority
Bahrain is governed by Sunni leadership despite Shia majority
Sunni and Shia have different hierarchy for religious leaders
Lashkar-e-Jhangvi is a banned Sunni Muslim group in Pakistan and is is tied
to many organisations including al-Qaeda
Pakistan began cracking down on the group in 1998 and banned it in 2001
The group has been linked to much of Pakistan's sectarian violence in last
10 years
Source:
Al Jazeera
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