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Country Advice Country Advice Pakistan Pakistan – PAK38764 – Hazaras – Shi‟ites – Quetta – Targeted Harm – Sipah-e- Sahaba Pakistan – Jamaat Ahle Sunnat – Lashkar-e-Jhangvi – Nasabi-Wahabi – Ahle Hadith – Police Impartiality – Judiciary – Law – State Protection – Relocation 27 May 2011 1. Country Advice PAK38635 contains information on Hazara Shia Muslims being targeted by extremist Sunni Muslim groups in Quetta, Baluchistan. Can you please provide information about the targeting of the general Shia Muslim population by the Sunni Muslim extremists in Quetta and in other parts of Pakistan? Attacks on Shia communities throughout Pakistan by Deobandi extremist groups are part of a long-running campaign to create a Sunni Islamic state; extremist Deobandi doctrine classifies the various Shi‟ite branches as un-Islamic.1 Other targets of these extremists groups include Ahmadis and non-Muslims. More recently, reports indicate that Deobandi extremists have begun attacking Sunni targets associated with Sufism and the Barelvi school of Islam.2 Despite being associated with the Deobandi school of Hanafi Islam, Pakistan‟s Shi‟ite news sites collectively refer to these groups as Nasabi-Wahabi.3 The most active extremist group targeting Shia Muslims in Pakistan today is Lashkar-e- Jhangvi (LeJ), a splinter group of Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistan (SSP).4 LeJ is widely believed to be associated with al-Qaeda, receiving funding, logistical help and emulating its decentralised cell structure. In November 2010, it was reported that LeJ had recently split into at least eight small cells. According to the South Asian Terrorism Portal , “[t]he creation of the cells is aimed at coordinating the banned group‟s activities in the area ranging from the southern port city of Karachi to Waziristan in the restive tribal belt bordering Afghanistan… Each sub-group is responsible for carrying out activities in a specific geographic location”.5 1 There are three surviving branches of Shia Islam; the Twelvers, Zaidi, and Ismaili. The majority of Pakistan‟s Shi‟ite Muslims are Twelvers; however there are communities of Ismailis, residing largely in Hindu Kush regions. 2 Maqbool, A. 2010, „Deadly blasts hit Sufi shrine in Lahore‟, BBC News, 2 July http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/10483453 – Accessed 25 May 2011 – Attachment 55 3 „Two Shia Men Martyred by the Terrorists in Sindh‟ 2011, Ahlul Bayt News Agency, 8 January http://www.abna.ir/data.asp?lang=3&Id=220237 – Accessed 26 May 2011 – Attachment 56 4 SSP is also known as Jamaat Ahle Sunnat. SSP has changed names a number of times since 2002 to overcome official bans on its activities. 5 „Lashkar-e-Jhangvi‟ (undated), South Asian Terrorism Portal http://www.satp.org/satporgtp/countries/pakistan/terroristoutfits/lej.htm – Accessed 23 May 2011 – Attachment 1 Page 1 of 20 Quetta Country Advice PAK38635 documented a number of significant attacks on both Hazari Shi‟ites and the wider Shi‟ite community in Quetta since 2003. It is well-established that Shia Muslims in Quetta of all ethnic backgrounds have been targeted for harm, particularly by groups such as LeJ and SSP. It is likely that many Hazaras have been attacked in Quetta based on their distinct physical appearance, which usually distinguishes them as Shi‟ites; the overwhelming majority of Hazaras are Shi‟ites of the Twelver branch.6 Attacks targeting the general Shi‟ite population in Quetta/Baluchistan over the past decade listed in Country Advice PAK38635 included: September 2010 – approximately 73 Shi‟ites were killed and over 200 injured in a suicide bombing in the city.7 LeJ claimed responsibility for the attack.8 March 2005 – the bombing of a Shi‟ite shrine in Jhal Magsi killed 65. March 2004 – an attack on a Shia Ashura procession in Quetta killed 38. July 2003 – the bombing of a Shia mosque in Quetta left more than 50 people dead.9 Since the completion of Country Advice PAK38635, there have more deadly attacks on Hazaras/Shi‟ites in Quetta, including an attack on 18 May 2011 on a utility vehicle that killed 7 Hazari Shi‟ites. Once again, LeJ claimed responsibility for the attack.10 According to the Jamestown Foundation‟s Terrorism Monitor, approximately 95 percent of religious schools in Baluchistan are owned and administered by Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam (JUI), a radical Deobandi organisation. Terrorism Monitor argues that the effect of this has been greater “intolerance among the youth who now refuse to coexist with members of rival religious sects.”11 Pakistan Anti-Shi‟ite attacks by LeJ, SSP, and other Deobandi/Salafist/Wahhabist extremist groups have not been confined to Baluchistan. The scope of targeted attacks on Shi‟ite targets across Pakistan is too extensive to catalogue in this advice.12 Below is a snapshot of attacks since 2009, selected to highlight the geographic spread of targeted attacks across the country: 5 February 2009 – 30 people were killed and 20 injured in a bomb blast near a Shia mosque in Dera Ghazi Khan, Punjab. 6 Department of Foreign Affairs & Trade 2010, The Hazara Community, 20 May – Attachment 2 7 Hughes, M. 2010, „Suicide attack death toll reaches 73 in Quetta Pakistan‟, The Examiner, 4 September http://www.examiner.com/afghanistan-headlines-in-national/suicide-attack-death-toll-reaches-73-quetta-pakistan- video – Accessed 8 October 2010 – Attachment 3 8 Reporters Without Borders 2010, „Journalists killed and injured in Quetta bombing, reporter kidnapped in Islamabad‟, UNHCR Refworld, 6 September http://www.unhcr.org/refworld/docid/4c8df29814.html – Accessed 11 October 2010 – Attachment 4 9 International Crisis Group 2009, Pakistan: The Militant Jihadi Challenge, Asia Report no.164, 13 March, p.16 – Attachment 5 10 Shahid, S. & Kasi, A. 2011, „Terrorists kill Seven Hazaras in Quetta‟ 2011, Dawn, 18 May http://www.dawn.com/2011/05/19/terrorists-kill-seven-hazaras-in-quetta.html – Accessed 19 May 2011 – Attachment 6 11 Jamestown Foundation 2010, Terrorism Monitor, Vol VIII, Issue 21, 28 May, p.5 – Attachment 54 12 For more information on attacks on specific Shi‟ite communities see the MRT-RRT Country Advice Pakistan Index. Page 2 of 20 5 April 2009 – 24 killed and 140 injured in a suicide bomb blast at a Shia mosque in Chakwal, Punjab. September 2009 – at least 35 people died in an attack on Shia villages in Kohat District, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (KP).13 28 December 2009 – a suicide bombing attack in Karachi during a Muharram (Ashura) procession killed at least 93 people and injured at least 75 others, triggering riots and arson.14 The bomber was most likely a member of LeJ.15 In 2009 a total of 55 Shia were killed and 196 were injured in attacks in Dera Ismail Khan, KP.16 A campaign of targeted assassinations of Shi‟ite professionals claimed the lives of at least 85 Shi‟ite doctors across Pakistan in 2010.17 18 It is likely that this assassination campaign was perpetrated by a Wahhabist group associated with the Ahle Hadith.19 In Karachi at least 26 Shi‟ite doctors have been assassinated according to a 2010 report on violence in the city.20 The authors of The Open City: Social Networks And Violence In Karachi argue that these assassinations are part of “a systematic campaign to target educated professionals within the Shia community – presumably in the expectation that this would lower the community‟s morale and encourage its members to seek emigration.”21 A similar campaign in the 1990s claimed the lives of over 100 Shia professionals in Karachi, resulting in the migration abroad of many educated Shi‟ites.22 Other Shia technocrats have also been targeted according to respected author Ahmed Rashid, writing in The National Interest that “politicians, doctors, architects, bureaucrats and judges – have been singled out for assassination in all major cities”.23 On 1 September 2010, 43 persons were killed and another 230 were injured in two suicide attacks and one grenade attack on a Shia procession in Lahore. LeJ Al-alami 13 „Pakistan: Shia IDPs fearful of being targeted‟ 2010, UNHCR Refworld, source: IRIN News, 11 February http://www.unhcr.org/refworld/docid/4b7ba8db1a.html – Accessed 4 January 2011 – Attachment 7 14 US Department of State 2010, Country Reports on Terrorism 2009, August, p.159 – Attachment 8 15 US Department of State 2010, International Religious Freedom Report – Pakistan, 17 November – Attachment 9 16 Provincial Disaster Management Authority 2010, „Internal Security Situation; Presentation to the Prime Minister of Islamic Republic of Pakistan‟, Government Of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa website, 4 March, p.16 http://www.pdma.gov.pk/PaRRSA/documents/Internal_Security_Situation.pdf – Accessed 12 January 2011 – Attachment 10 17 Shah, T.A. 2010 „Karachi Emerges as Pakistan‟s New Tinderbox of Violence and Extremism‟, Jamestown Foundation Terrorism Monitor, Volume VIII, Issue 26, 1 July, pp.5-6 – Attachment 11 18 „Sectarianism infects hospital wards‟ 2010, UNHCR Refworld, source: IRIN News, 24 October http://www.unhcr.org/refworld/docid/4cc673001e.html – Accessed 11 January 2011 – Attachment 12 19 Rakisits, C. 2009, „Urban Conflict in Pakistan‟, Geopolitical Assessment.com, 30 January, p.5 http://www.geopoliticalassessments.com/Urban_conflict_in_Pakistan.pdf – Accessed 19 May 2011 – Attachment 13 20 Budhani, et al 2010, The Open City: Social Networks And Violence In Karachi, Crisis States Research Centre, Working Paper no. 70, March, p.4 http://www.crisisstates.com/download/wp/wpSeries2/WP70.2.pdf – Accessed 7 January 2011 – Attachment 14 21 Budhani, et al 2010, The Open City: Social Networks And Violence In Karachi, Crisis States Research Centre, Working Paper no. 70, March, p.7 http://www.crisisstates.com/download/wp/wpSeries2/WP70.2.pdf – Accessed 7 January 2011 – Attachment 14 22 Abbas, H. 2010, „Shiism and Sectarian Conflict in Pakistan: Identity Politics, Iranian Influence, and Tit-for-Tat Violence‟, Combating Terrorism Center at West Point, Occasional Paper Series, 22 September, p.39 – Attachment 15 23 Rashid, A.
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