Pakistan - Sectarian attacks

Another Muharram, another sectarian attack on a Shia congregation: the regularity with which this horrific scenario repeats itself is a depressing reminder of Pakistan’s succumbing to the forces of religious extremism and the precarious daily reality suffered by minorities in a country that does not seem to care. On the eve of 9th Muharram, a suicide attacker blew himself up outside an Imambargah in Bolan, Balochistan. The attack claimed more than 10 lives and injured dozens; six of the dead were children, many others were women. As the site of the blast was not a major town, rescue operations have been handicapped due to there being only one ill-equipped Basic Health Unit (BHU) in the area. The attacker has been described by a local official as an 18-year-old youth disguised in a woman’s burqa. No group has so far taken responsibility for this heinous crime. In the aftermath of the attack, the security of the area has been reportedly beefed up. 

These are the facts of the case and are dishearteningly familiar and interchangeable with hundreds of other incidents throughout the country over the past few years where the Shias have been specifically targeted. The dead of Bolan are but an addition to the statistic of ‘the number of victims of sectarian attacks’, the answer to which is in the thousands. Beefing up security after the fact is another frequently repeated pointless show of the state’s machinery when the damage has already been done.


Due to the heightened tensions during Muharram and the country’s long and unfortunate history of sectarian conflicts, threats of an attack like this are ever present. Balochistan in particular is a prime site of anti-Shia violence committed by Sunni extremists, especially due to the province having the highest representation of the distinctive Hazara population (who predominantly practice the Shia version of Islam), and because many Shia pilgrims pass through on their way to or from Iran and thus are easily targeted. Given the prevailing situation, and in the light of a bus bombing not a week ago in Quetta, efforts to prevent and pre-empt this attack are conspicuous by their absence. The governments, federal and provincial, cannot let their guard down. It is folly to think that the terrorists are on their way out due to Operation Zarb-e-Azb; it has become painfully clear in the spate of recent attacks that they have focused their attentions on minor towns and cities where the security forces are complacent and unprepared. This latest attack and the preventable bloodshed once again underlines the dire need to have a centralied, collective response amongst the various law enforcement and security agencies against the menace of terrorist networks. It is hoped that Ashura today passes peacefully and stringent measures are taken to prevent any more acts of carnage.