My earlier post was based on the following:
Attack on Shia’s (From the Wikipedia)
Since the year 2000, over 2000 Shia Hazara community members including many women and children have been killed or wounded in attacks perpetrated by Sunni Muslim terrorists affiliated with Al-Qaeda and Taliban in southwestern town of Quetta. Many hundreds of Shia Muslims have been killed in northern areas of Pakistan such as Gilgit, Baltistan, Parachinar and Chelas. The violence worsened immediately after September 11 and the expulsion of the Taliban from Afghanistan.[20] In 2002, 12 Shia Hazara police cadets were gunned down in Quetta. In 2003, the main Shia Friday Mosque was attacked in Quetta, killing 53 worshippers. March 2, 2004, at least 42 persons were killed and more than 100 wounded when a procession of the Shia Muslims was attacked by rival Sunni extremists at Liaquat Bazaar in Quetta. Separately, on October 7, 2004, a car bomb killed 40 members of an extremist Sunni organization in Multan. 300 people died during 2006.
On December 28, 2009, as many as 40 Shias were killed in an apparent suicide bombing in Karachi. The bomber attacked a Shia procession which was held to mark Ashura.
Since June 2010 in Karachi, Sipah-e-Sahaba is involved in the target killing of seven innocent bystanders and intellectuals; all were from the Twelver Shia Muslim community. Sectarian riots as well as target killing of doctors in the provincial capital have been sending alarm bells to the present democratic system. Karachi had witnessed similar sectarian tension in the early 1980s when then President Zia-ul-Haq was in power. The military regime of those years had been backing certain groups to strengthen its rule and Karachi underwent worst situation after the sectarian riots. The Shia-Sunni clashes had started from the same section of the city (i.e. Godra Colony in New Karachi) after a small incident, and subsequently the clashes gripped the entire city, that hasn't stopped yet and continues.
In early September 2010, three separate attacks were reported in different parts of Pakistan. The first one took place on September 1 in Lahore where at least 35 Shia were killed and 160 people sustained injuries during a procession. The third attack also occurred on September 3 but in the city of Quetta which killed around 56 people during another procession.
On December 16, a mortar attack killed nine (9) people, including women and children in Hangu, a town that has been a flash point for sectarian clashes between Shia and Sunni communities in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) Province, near tribal area. On the same day in another attack one child was killed and 28 people were wounded in Peshawar, the capital of KP province, as Shia Muslims marked Ashura.
February 2012 Kohistan Shia Massacre.
August 2012 Mansehra Shia Massacre On August 16, 2012, four busses en route to Gilgit, in northern Pakistan were stopped when passengers were going back home for Eid-ul-Fitr festivals. 25 Shia passengers were identified by their identity cards and were separated from other passengers and subsequently shot dead at the spot. Al-Qaeda affiliated Sunni Muslim militants claimed responsibility for the attack. Three Shia Hazara community members were shot dead in the town of Quetta, which is home to Sunni Taliban leadership known as Quetta Shura.
Attack on Braelvi Sunni and Sufi shrines:
Why Pakistan's Taliban Target the Muslim Majority
By Omar Waraich / Islamabad Thursday, Apr. 07, 2011
Although Pakistan's headlines are dominated by the violent excesses of Taliban extremists, the majority of Pakistanis subscribe to the more mystical Sufi tradition of the country's Barelvi school of Islam. And attacks on their places of worship are becoming depressingly familiar. Last Sunday, two bombers attacked the 13th Century Sakhi Sarwar shrine, near the southern Punjabi town of Dera Ghazi Khan, slaughtering 50 people and injuring twice as many. Mercifully, two other bombers failed to detonate their devices, preventing even higher casualties. Still, it was the deadliest assault yet on a Sufi shrine in Pakistan — and the sixteenth in the last two years.
The Pakistani Taliban swiftly claimed responsibility for the attack, as they have done for each previous one. Pakistan's Taliban claims the mantle of the hardline Deobandi tradition, with many beliefs in common with the austere Wahabism of Saudi Arabia. They regard the Barelvi, who comprise more than three quarters of Pakistan's Sunni Muslims, as irredeemable heretics. The Barelvis favor a more tolerant approach to Islam, promoting a cult of the Prophet and incorporate folkloric traditions such as seeking intercession from rural saints. Sakhi Sarwar, a mystic who is also revered by some Hindus and Sikhs, is said to grant women a son — a local legend that rouses anger among Islam's more literalist adherents, who ascribe such powers only to Allah. (Read "In Pakistan, Justifying Murder for Those Who Blaspheme.")
Tensions between Deobandis and Barelvis have punctuated most of Pakistan's history. But with the arrival of al-Qaeda in the country a decade ago, local militants forged links with the global jihadists, their sectarianism sharpened to accept al-Qaeda's "takfiri" worldview that deems adherents of other strains of Islam as deviant apostates worthy of death.
One reason for the uptick in sectarian-based terror attacks may be that the militants' ability to strike the high profile urban targets that once grabbed global headlines has been diminished by Pakistani military offensives in their strongholds over the past two years. "It has become harder for the militants to strike hard targets," says security analyst Ejaz Haider. "Some lessons have been learned from the previous attacks."
So, the militants have, over the past two years, more keenly focused on sectarian attacks. Traditional Shi'ite processions are now routinely targeted by suicide bombers. In May 2010, two mosques of the minority Ahmedi sect were targeted in Lahore, killing 93 people. And there's been an escalation of bombings directed against the majority Barelvis. After attacks on two of their most prominent shrines, Data Darbar in Lahore's old city and Abdullah Shah Ghazi in Karachi, Barelvis came out on to the streets, wielding weapons and vowing revenge against the Taliban. They did not extend blame to the broader spectrum of Deobandis, perhaps wisely evading the beginnings of a more gruesome sectarian conflict that Pakistan can ill-afford. (Read about Pakistan's Christians.)
Not all Barelvis are the models of peace and tolerance that some have portrayed them to be. It was a Barelvi, Mumtaz Qadri, that assassinated Punjab Governor Salmaan Taseer in January, for his opposition to Pakistan's prejudicial blasphemy laws. The assassination was applauded by 500 Barelvi scholars in a joint statement. And the Sunni Tehreek, a Barelvi militant outfit, rewarded Qadri's family and threatened Taseer's daughter. While they may favor a more permissive vision of Islam, certain Barelvis are quite capable of violence where they feel the Prophet has been dishonored.
The campaign to defend Pakistan's blasphemy laws from reform has, in fact, united Barelvis and Deobandis since last November. Barelvi anti-Taliban rhetoric was also put on pause. "We had seen the Barelvis getting ready to organize a campaign against the Taliban," observes analyst Nasim Zehra, "but they got sidetracked by the blasphemy issue and this was forgotten." Until last month's assassination of Minorities Minister Shahbaz Bhatti, the religious right was able to frequently draw tens of thousands on to the streets.
Sectarian hatred aside, rural shrines are a far easier terror target than the more heavily guarded state and economic targets in the cities. Suicide bombers, especially the teenage boys favored by militants, can often evade notice before they reach the target. A crowded space helps secure the militants' aim of causing high casualties. In the case of the Sakhi Sarwar bombers, they only had travel to a relatively short and unimpeded distance from North Waziristan to the edge of Punjab. (Read "U.S. Diplomat Could Bring Down Pakistan Gov't.")
The bombings may also be an attempt to relieve pressure from sporadic Army actions against militants in the northern tip of the tribal areas. "Just to remain alive there, the militants have to try and force the government's hand into diminishing pressure," says analyst Haider. "To counter that pressure, they mount attacks in the mainland in the hope of securing some deal back in the tribal areas." By targeting shrines across the country, the militants are able to demonstrate their enduring geographical reach and expose the state's vulnerabilities.
The bad news is that the state is in a poor position to respond. After the latest bombings, Barelvi leaders denounced the Punjab provincial government for failing to provide security at shrines. The Punjab government dismisses the charge. "It's happening all over," says Ahsan Iqbal, a leading politician from the Pakistan Muslim League-N, the ruling party in Punjab. "This is not something that is province-specific." Iqbal casts blame on the federal government for failing to share intelligence. The federal government reverses the charge, and argues that the law and order is a provincial responsibility. What no one seems to be focusing on is the desperate need to enhance the police's capacity, with better equipment, counter terrorism training and an intelligence gathering network that reaches deep into Pakistan's remote areas.
Why Pakistan's Taliban Target the Muslim Majority - TIME
October 2005, Bari Imam Shrine attacked by SSP killing 20 and injuring 100 on May 27, 2005.
Bari Imam Shrine attack 2005: Police await suspects on judicial remand in another case – The Express Tribune
March 5, 2009. Taliban attack Rahman Baba mazaar killing more than 100 people.
Revisiting Rahman Baba
July 1, 2010 Suicide bomb on Data Darbar, 42 killed and 175 wounded.
Suicide bombers kill dozens at Pakistan shrine | World news | The Guardian
October 25, 2010. 6 killed and scores wounded during attack on Baba Farid Ganj Shakar at Pakpattan.
Blast at Baba Farid
One thing is for sure, some organization or groups have been carrying out the above attacks and these Pakistanis were not killed by ghosts. I say that killers are TTP/Salafi/Wahhabi/Deobandi alliance. I never said or implied that USA Israelis/Indians etc are saviours, I maintain that the 4th generation war that Pakistan is fighting is not against foreigners but against the followers of Salafi/Wahhabi/Deobandi/Taliban Alliance.
This schism has torn apart fabric of the society and it is the war of survival for Pakistan as envisaged by the founding fathers. However should you chose to remain in constant state of denial and insist that US/CIA/Israel/Afghan/Hindu conspiracy is behind this violence you are welcome to your belief.
P.S. I would like to make it clear that I have no problem with the Deobandi/Wahhabi maslak as IMO only Allah can judge who is on the right path. I have however serious objections if other people force me to follow their form of Islam. I detest those who kill others for no other reason but only that they follow a different version of Islam. That is why I am anti Taliban, anti Al Quaida and anti Takfiris.
