Sectarianism and Conflict the View from Pakistan
DIIS · Religion and Violence
Edited by Manni Crone and Mona Kanwal Sheikh
ShEhRyaR FazlI
Sectarianism and Conflict: The View from Pakistan
June 2012
Pakistan’s tribal belt that borders Afghanistan is widely believed to be the epicentre of militancy in Pakistan, its immediate neighbourhood, and even beyond. The largely Pashtun Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) is frequently identified as the source of any major terrorist plot in Pakistan, Afghanistan, and indeed even Western cities – most recently New York in the May 2010 Times Square bombing attempt. And if the crisis is either confined to, or largely emanates from, FATA, it takes no great effort to link it to events in Afghanistan following the U.S.-led intervention there in 2001, and the solution appears to be classic counter-insurgency. Unsurprisingly, therefore, there has been significant international backing to the Pakistani military’s innumerable operations – quickly followed by peace deals with militant groups – in FATA, which have provoked massive internal displacement, death, and destruction of infrastructure. Alternatively, some observers argue that the withdrawal of foreign troops from Afghanistan would reduce the incentive and recruitment options for jihad. These easy theories neglect a critical aspect of the various forms of religious violence in South Asia and the nature of the most violence extremist groups, which are indeed obscured by the frame-
work of occupation and resistance/insurgency. The purpose of this paper is to use Pakistan’s experience with religious violence, given the country’s centrality in the global discussion on terrorism, radicalisation and extremism, to illustrate the shape that this kind of violence assumes, and the urgent tasks for often fragile governments confronting it. The primary source of terrorism in Pakistan is in fact not a Pashtun-led insurgency, but sectarian conflict; and the most dangerous and resourceful organisations are radical Sunni
Edited by Manni Crone and Mona Kanwal Sheikh
ShEhRyaR FazlI
Sectarianism and Conflict: The View from Pakistan
June 2012
Pakistan’s tribal belt that borders Afghanistan is widely believed to be the epicentre of militancy in Pakistan, its immediate neighbourhood, and even beyond. The largely Pashtun Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) is frequently identified as the source of any major terrorist plot in Pakistan, Afghanistan, and indeed even Western cities – most recently New York in the May 2010 Times Square bombing attempt. And if the crisis is either confined to, or largely emanates from, FATA, it takes no great effort to link it to events in Afghanistan following the U.S.-led intervention there in 2001, and the solution appears to be classic counter-insurgency. Unsurprisingly, therefore, there has been significant international backing to the Pakistani military’s innumerable operations – quickly followed by peace deals with militant groups – in FATA, which have provoked massive internal displacement, death, and destruction of infrastructure. Alternatively, some observers argue that the withdrawal of foreign troops from Afghanistan would reduce the incentive and recruitment options for jihad. These easy theories neglect a critical aspect of the various forms of religious violence in South Asia and the nature of the most violence extremist groups, which are indeed obscured by the frame-
work of occupation and resistance/insurgency. The purpose of this paper is to use Pakistan’s experience with religious violence, given the country’s centrality in the global discussion on terrorism, radicalisation and extremism, to illustrate the shape that this kind of violence assumes, and the urgent tasks for often fragile governments confronting it. The primary source of terrorism in Pakistan is in fact not a Pashtun-led insurgency, but sectarian conflict; and the most dangerous and resourceful organisations are radical Sunni
Links: to the Middle East. Karachi: Oxford University Press (2011). DIIS 4. International Crisis Group, Pakistan: The Militant Jihadi Challenge. March 13, 2009. 5. According to the well-respected Pakistan Institute of Peace Studies (PIPS), which compiles data on violence in Pakistan, 907 people were killed in terrorist attacks in 2006; in 2007, 3,448 people were killed; in 2008, 2,267; in 2009, more than 3,021; and in 2010, just over 2,900. See Pakistan Institute of Peace Studies annual reports. 6. Ahmadis form a Sunni minority sect that follows the teachings of Mirza Ghulam Ahmed; some members believe Ahmed was a twentieth century prophet. Through a constitutional amendment in 1974, they were declared non-Muslim. Through amendments to the Pakistan Penal Code under General Zia-ul-Haq in the 1980s, there are Ahmadi-specific blasphemy laws, under Section 298, that practically make practice of the Ahmadi faith a case of blasphemy, punishable by death. 7. Hassnain, K. “ATCs acquit about 700 for lack of evidence”, Dawn. 17 October 2010. 8. Rehman, M. “Backlog of over 1.35m cases ‘haunts’ the judiciary”, Pakistan Today. August 8, 2011. 9. “Special public prosecutors receive death threats”, The Nation. September 9, 2010. 10. Azad, A. “Public prosecutors refuse hearings in militants’ cases”, Daily Times. 14 November 2010. 11. Pakistan Institute of Peace Studies, PIPS Security Reports: 2010. January 2011. ReLIGION AND VIOLeNCe DIIS Religion and Violence papers are based on the presentations given at the international conference “Ten years after 9/11: What did we learn about Religion?” held in Copenhagen 22-23 September 2011. The conference, that was organized by Centre for advanced Security Theory at the University of Copenhagen (CaST) and the Danish Institute for International Studies (DIIS) gathered leading experts on terrorism and religion. The aim was to facilitate a dialogue between practitioners and scholars and to provide a platform to discuss policy suggestions and initiatives to deal with religious aspects of violence. Other DIIS Religion and Violence papers: Stig Jarle hansen: Religion and Violence in Different Versions Thomas hegghammer: Religious Terrorism post 9/11: Ideology Matters – but how? Stephane lacroix: Islamism and Religious authority Pauletta Otis: Religion and Violence: Relearning the Fundamentals Don Rassler: Taliban and al-Qaida: What Role does Religion Play? Max Taylor: Conflict Resolution and Counter Radicalization: Where do we go from here? Joshua T. White: Understanding the Taliban: assessing Religious Categories of analysis Shehryar Fazli is Senior Analyst at the International Crisis Group, Pakistan The opinions expressed in this paper are those of the authors alone and do not necessarily reflect the official opinion of the Danish Institute for International Studies. DIIS · DANISH INSTITUTe FOR INTeRNATIONAL STUDIeS Strandgade 56, DK- 0 Copenhagen, Denmark · tel: + 5 69 87 87 · Fax: + 5 69 87 00 · e-mail: diis@diis.dk · www.diis.dk