Foreign hands fuel Pakistan's sectarian
strife By Syed Saleem Shahzad
KARACHI - The latest round of countrywide
sectarian violence in Pakistan that has claimed scores
of lives is fueled in part by general hatred and the
desire to create chaos and anarchy, as well as strong
feelings among militants of both Sunni and Shi'ite
groups to eliminate "foreign connections".
As a result
of the sectarian violence, which has claimed more than
75 lives in the past fortnight, a countrywide crackdown
has begun on all types of religious organizations,
including non-sectarian religious political groups, such
as the Jamiat-i-Ulema-i-Islam, and non-sectarian jihadi
outfits, such as the Jaish-i-Mohammed and Harkatul
Mujahideen.
Law-enforcement agencies have
rounded up more than 500 activists from central and
southern Punjab in the past few days, and the volatile
southern port city of Karachi has been placed on high
alert after a tipoff of a further large sectarian
incident.
The current wave of violence began
with the killing late last month of Amjad Farooqi in the
southern city of Nawabshah. Farooqi, a suspected senior
al-Qaeda figure, was gunned down by security forces,
setting off a chain reaction.
Sectarian
minefield Most of the cases of apparent
sectarian violence in 2003-04 are in fact less a result
of religious differences than a struggle between pro-
and anti-Taliban people.
The recently arrested
high-profile serial killer of Shi'ites from the
southwestern province of Balochistan, Daud Badini,
informed his interrogators that he and his accomplices
had taken up arms against the Hazara community, which
happens to be Shi'ite, and anti-Taliban.
The
Hazaras originally hailed from the Afghan province of
Bamiyan. Hundreds of families migrated to Iran and
(present Pakistani) Balochistan about a century ago, yet
they retained their family ties in Afghanistan and even
kept their culture alive. After the mass migration from
Afghanistan after the Soviet invasion of 1979, the
numbers of the Hazara community in Quetta soared to
300,000, outnumbering the locals almost three to one.
According to security officials, the suicide
bomber of the Shi'ite mosque Ali Raza in May, Mohammed
Ali Memon, in which several dozen people were killed,
had previously stated that the mosque was being used to
spy on the activities of jihadis in the area.
After the recent incident in Multan, in
which more than 50 Sunni members of the defunct
Sepah-i-Sahab (renamed as the Millat-i-Islamia) were blown up in a
car-bomb attack, Asia Times Online contacted the central
spokesperson of the organization, Mujeeb Inqalabi, who
was quick to blame intelligence agents from
Shi'ite-majority Iran for supporting the attack.
The first sectarian organization in the country was
founded soon after the Iranian revolution of 1979, the
Tehrik-i-Nifaz-i-Fiqah-i-Jaferia - TNFJ - which was
banned and subsequently renamed the Islamic Movement.
The organization emerged to demand religious rights for
the Shi'ite minority in Pakistan, including a separate
syllabus of Islamic learning and national public
holidays on Shi'ite mourning days. General Zia ul-Haq's
government succumbed to all demands.
There is no census available in the country that confirms
the exact number of Shi'ites and Sunnis, but the
Shi'ites claim 20%, while different Sunni organizations
claim that Shi'ites only constitute 7-8% of the country's 150
million population. The median of these figures is
probably closer to the truth.
Pakistani
intelligence quarters believed that the TNFJ had
connections with Iran as its leader, Ariful Hussaini,
later murdered in the 1980s, was close to the Iranian
clergy and acted as an intermediary between the two
countries on a number of occasions.
Pakistan had
traditionally been a part of the US camp and therefore
also friendly to Iran, but after the Islamic Revolution
things changed. Tehran suspected Pakistan of allowing
the US Central Intelligence Agency to launch
intelligence operations from Balochistan to fan
anti-revolutionary movements in Zahedan, a bordering
Iranian province. In turn, Iran allowed India to open a
consulate in far-flag Zahedan, and funded the TNFJ to
increase Iranian influence in Pakistan.
Even
though Pakistan and Iran had minimal trade ties, Iran
opened consulates in the Pakistani cities of Quetta,
Lahore and Peshawar, besides its embassy in Islamabad
and a powerful consulate in Karachi. In addition,
cultural centers were used to project the Iranian
revolution, notably in smaller places such as Multan.
The emergence of the Sepah-i-Sahabah in the
1980s is largely seen as a reaction to the TNFJ,
although its rapid rise can also be attributed to the
Arab money it received. The Iranian revolution was
largely perceived as a threat to Arab dictators and
kings and they made all-out efforts to contain its
spread. Countries such as Saudi Arabia and Iraq were at
forefront in this regard and they showered millions of
dollars on anti-Shi'ite organizations, which, along with
the Sepah-i-Sahabah, had mushroomed in the 1980s in
Pakistan.
The growth of anti-Shi'ite
organizations forced Iran to revamp its operations, and
instead of being obsessed with the TNFJ, Iranian
intelligence invested in anti-Salafi Sunni organizations
such as Sunni Tehrik. Sunni Tehrik activists were
trained in Iran and then launched into Pakistan, where
they only took on jihadi outfits. However, the timely
intervention of the state machinery largely marginalized
the Sunni Tehrik in Pakistan.
After the Gulf War
of 1991, defeated Iraq was no longer in a position to
support anti-Shi'ite organizations, and US-friendly
Saudi Arabia was also not interested in funding
countries that had sided with Saddam Hussein.
At
this time Pakistan's state machinery gradually took
Sepah-i-Sahabah under its fold and persuaded it to give
up its militancy. The mainstream organization agreed,
but a rebellious splinter group emerged in the form of
the Lashkar-i-Jhangvi (LJ), with the sole objective of
killing Shi'ites and harming their interests. In
reaction, a splinter group emerged among Shi'ites,
called the Sepah-i-Mohammed. The LJ flourished in the
Taliban's military training camps in Afghanistan, while
Sepah-i-Mohammed militants were trained in Iran.
According to security documents of the Punjab
police on Shi'ite terrorists, Zulqarnain Haider, who
hails from central Punjab, is an example of someone who
acquired his religious education from Qum, Iran, and
remained in constant touch with Iranian intelligence. At
present, he is in the Netherlands. Another person with
the same name is from Karachi and is believed to have
killed seven people.
Dr Qaisar Raza of Multan is
another example cited in Punjab police records. He was
funded by Iranian intelligence to carry out a bomb
attack in a Lahore court on January 18, 1997. He is now
in Iran. In this attack, the chief of the
Sepah-i-Sahabah was seriously wounded. Police arrested
one Mehram Ali, who during interrogation admitted that
Iranian intelligence had provided funds for the
operation. Mehram Ali was later hanged for his part in
the attack. Mureed Abbas of Muzzafar Gargh was president
of the TNFJ in a medical college in Bahawalpur, and is
accused of killing several people in Bahawalpur. He now
works in Iran as a medical teacher.
Security
sources say that Sunni terrorists are generally linked
with the Taliban or al-Qaeda and have little or no
interaction with the underworld. On the other hand, many
Shi'ite terrorists came from the underworld before they
became religious zealots. For instance, Zohair Abbass of
Tokar Niaz Baig and Anwar Haider Shah of Lahore and
Tahir Abbas, alias Tony of Tokar Niaz Baig, were all
known dacoits (bandits) and cases are registered against
them. They are all office bearers of the
Sepah-i-Mohammed.
The recent murder of
high-profile pro-Taliban cleric Mufti Jameel Ahmed Khan
is reckoned to have been committed by members of a
Shi'ite militant organization, with foreign funding.
Security sources tell Asia Times Online that
more sectarian trouble is likely, with a strong proxy
war being fought under its cover.
Syed
Saleem Shahzad is Bureau Chief, Pakistan, Asia Times
Online. He can be reached at saleem_shahzad2002@yahoo.com.
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