Sectarianism in Pakistan: The Radicalization of Shi‘i and Sunni Identities

Abstract

This essay is an enquiry into the context, nature, and significance of militant sectarian conflict in Pakistan. The parties to the conflict are the Sunnis, who constitute the majority of Muslims in Pakistan, and the Shi‘a, a small but influential minority. Conflict between these two religious communities has deep roots in the history of Islam and of South Asia. In Pakistan, which aspires to be in some sense an ‘Islamic state’, sectarian conflict is part of, and interacts with, broader issues concerning the place of Islam in public life. This essay seeks to analyse some of factors which have contributed, especially in the past twenty-five years or so, to militant sectarian conflict in Pakistan and to assess the significance of this rather neglected form of Islamic radicalism.

Outrageous State, Sectarianized Citizens:Deconstructing the ‘Textbook Controversy’ in the Northern Areas, Pakistan

“…53 Sectarian conflict in Pakistan has risen remarkably in recent years, particularly in the wake of Zia's Islamization program, the Iranian revolution, and the Afghan war, all of which have fueled the creation and sustenance of sectarian hostility and violence (Qureshi 1989, Zaman 1998, Nasr 2002, Abou-Zahab 2004. These processes surely influenced the emergence of Shia-Sunni conflict in the Northern Areas as well.…”

“…In the analyses of sectarianism in Pakistan, the state is understood largely as an instrumentalist policy-maker, and its role limited to considerations of law, the control and proliferation of madrasas, and party politics (Malik 1996, Zaman 1998, Nasr 2002. My study, on the other hand, draws upon theories of state-formation that posit the state as an assemblage of contested discourses and micro-practices of discipline and power (Mitchell 1991, Steinmetz 1999, Trouillot 2001.…”

History of Sectarianism in Pakistan: Implications for Lasting Peace

“…For a developing country like Pakistan, foreign direct investment is a key component. But the daily basis incidents of sectarianism have damaged the investor confidence and hence it led to decrease the foreign direct investment, as a result lower economic growth [25].…”

Asia-Pacific Security: Policy Challenges

“…In the 200 I UNDP Human Development Report, Pakistan ranked 127th out of the 162 countries examined (United Nations Development Programme 2001, 13, 143). Third, Pakistan has witnessed an explosion of religious mobilization and sectarian conflict on its soil (Zaman 1998;Zarnan 2002;Nasr 2000a;Nasr 2000b), as a result of the reverberations from the Iranian Revolution and of the flow of weapons into its territory from the war in Afghanistan (Goodson 2000). Fourth, the military continues to reflect the effects of the 'Islamization' programme of General Zia ul-Haq (1977-88), who 'encouraged Islamic conservatism and orthodoxy in the Army' (Rizvi 2000, 245).…”