In recent years, news from Pakistan about increasing sectarian violence has become a cause of international concern. The situation is worsening every day and crimes are being committed in broad daylight. The World Federation of Khoja Shia Ithna-Asheri Communities is monitoring the situation closely and is working to alert the international community about the atrocities occurring in current day Pakistan as many of these instances are not reported in the media.
Pakistan is a predominantly Muslim nation. The Muslim population is equally broad from a theological standpoint; there are significant numbers affiliating with each of the Sunni, Shia and Ismaili schools of thought, as well as minority denominations.
Pakistan’s non-Muslim population is 5%. Although the constitution declares Islam as the official state religion, all citizens have the right to practice and propagate their faiths, without hindrance, and this right is enshrined in law. Despite this, Pakistan’s recent history has been characterised by an increasing number of challenges, including sectarian tensions and the persecution of religious minorities. Since 1987, some 4000 people have been killed as a result of sectarian aggression, primarily in Karachi and the Punjab. In 2012, 400 Shia were killed in targeted attacks and a 2013 report by Human Rights Watch noted that Ahmadi Muslims and Christians have also been subject to similar acts of violence
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The majority of these attacks have been carried out by extremist groups and have taken the form of suicide bombings and remote explosive devices planted in cars, markets and places of worship. Increasingly, citizens have been stopped in public, identified as belonging to minority religious groups and then shot. Much of the violence has been carried out during the month of Muharram, during which Shias commemorate the death of the grandson of the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) and his family in Karbala, Iraq in 680 A.D. These incidents have resulted in a curfew being imposed and the deaths of nine people. On the eve of Ashura, the culmination of the Muharram mourning period, six Shia mosques were set on fire, with the consequence that the army was called in to restore order. Similarly, in the last ten years, 209 people have been killed in attacks on shrines devoted to Sufi saints, whilst there are increasing reports that Hindus are being forced to convert to Islam and that young girls are being kidnapped and sexually assaulted. Several hundred Pakistani Hindus have sought asylum in India to escape the threats they face and a number of Pakistani Christians have been forced to go into hiding after being accused of blasphemy, denounced as ‘infidels’ and experiencing physical and sexual assaults.
The World Federation of Khoja Shia Ithna-Asheri Muslim Communities condemns all such acts in the strongest possible terms. Islam does not sanction violence against any individual or group and teaches that all are free to express their faith and worship without fear of reprisal. The beliefs and practices of all extremist groups are rejected by the overwhelming majority of Muslims, who believe in the principles of freedom, equality and tolerance. The majority of the groups responsible for the violence are funded by the extremist Wahhabi sect, which has also been at the root of much of the violence in Iraq since the 2001 invasion and, more recently, the war in Syria. The World Federation calls for peace, understanding and an end to such acts of terror. We note that there have been a number of moves to quell the violence, particularly following the blast in Quetta in 2013, in which 110 people died. The Muslim community has united in the face of aggression from external forces to celebrate the birth of the Prophet Muhammad under one banner and a number of Sunni Muslims have participated in the Muharram commemorations. Increasingly, Pakistani nationals and the South Asian diaspora are speaking out against the discrimination of minorities, irrespective of their religious affiliation. Regretfully, the response from the government of Pakistan has been less encouraging and there has been little condemnation of the violence from the West. We call upon the global community to do all it can to end the violence in the region, to restore security to Pakistan and to bring those responsible for the atrocities to justice. We further call upon the international community to cease associations with those groups who commit such acts and to use its full weight to ensure that the principles of freedom, liberty and equality are upheld once more.
The World Federation of KSIMC Media Committee