Pakistan attacks anti-Shia groups

[flameboard]

Pakistan has announced a reward of around USD 120,000 to anyone providing information about pro-Taliban militants involved in the killing of Shia Muslims.


Interior Minister Rehman Malik says that most militants belonged to the banned Laskhar-e-Jhangvi and Sipah-e-Sahaba, AFP reported.

These groups are accused of killing hundreds of Shia Muslims in different parts of the country over the past years.

The groups inspired by Wahhabi ideology also orchestrated the assassination of Iranian diplomat Sadiq Ganji in Lahore and were involved in the killing of Iranian Air Force cadets visiting Pakistan in the early 1990s. The extremist outfits were banned by former president Pervez Musharraf in 1999.

The Interior Ministry earlier said that the bomber involved in the 2007 assassination of Benazir Bhutto along with the death of 20 others in Rawalpindi also belonged to Lashkar-e-Jhangvi.

The extremist groups have also recently targeted key security and civilians centers in major cities in Pakistan.

"The government will make arrangements to settle the informers and their families anywhere in the country, even abroad, if they fear that Taliban might hurt them," Interior Minister Rehman Malik told reporters in Islamabad on Saturday.

Pro-Taliban groups have launched a violent campaign against Shia Muslims over the past years.

Shia Muslims in Pakistan's Kurram Agency have been facing a humanitarian crisis since November 2007 when pro-Taliban militants cut off the area from the rest of the country.

According to local sources, more than 2,000 Shia Muslims have been killed in the region since the start of the campaign by pro-Taliban and al-Qaeda-linked militants.

The extremist groups have launched a violent campaign against Shia Muslims, and are stretching their campaign southwards.

Quetta, the capital of Pakistan's restive Balochistan Province has witnessed several instances of violence against the Hazara Shia community in recent months.

Several Shia religious gatherings have been targeted in the central province of Punjab over the past few months.

Shia sources say they make up one-third of Pakistan's population of nearly 160 million. Since the 1980s, thousands of people have been killed in sectarian-related incidents in Pakistan.

Pakistan is also plagued with violence as it is struggling with non-UN-sanctioned US aerial strikes as well as attacks by militants on NATO trucks carrying supplies to the US-led forces in war-ravaged Afghanistan.

Militant attacks, unsanctioned drone strikes and political unrest have claimed the lives of over 4,000 people throughout Pakistan since 2007.

JR/HGH/MMN

 

[Majnun]

Now they say they are a third of the population?
It used to be 2.5-3%, then it became 15%, 20, 25 and now a third?
Grossly overstating how many Shias there are in the country which is well over 90% Sunni.

 

[TARIQ BN ZIYAAD]

assalam alaikum

Good move by the govt. eventhough it is late. In the same token the govt. should also check how the jhangvi caders were killed before they got banned. Both were fighting each other if shia got killed ( which i s very bad and unacceptable the murders ). One third means after every two there is a one shia overly stated, shia always give wrong numbers of their population.

Anyhow good move by the govt. and they should do something about the targeT killings of karachi. Good luck Rehman malik

TARIQ

 

[niaz]

Now they say they are a third of the population?
It used to be 2.5-3%, then it became 15%, 20, 25 and now a third?
Grossly overstating how many Shias there are in the country which is well over 90% Sunni.

Being virtually a- sectarian and calling myself ‘Musim’ only, I try to avoid sectarian debates. Besides, my family (including all the cousins) includes followers of Jafri maslak. Since this post refers to percentage of Shia population, I would like to give my opinion.

A large percentage of population in the Sargodha/ Khushab/Mianwali areas during that time of my early youth were “Maulaii” that is actually Sunni but with Shia leanings. Majority of the water fountains (sabeel) along the Muharram procession route belonged to the Maulaii Sunnis and that is why Moharram processions were always well attended.

This may give the impression that percentage of Shia population is larger than it actually is. I would tend to agree at 30% appears to be exaggeration and about 20% is probably closer to the mark.