For Pakistan's Shi'ites, the horrific scenes were depressinglyfamiliar. On Tuesday, as thousands of Shi'ite worshippers solemnlyshuffled through the medieval and narrow streets of Lahore's OldCity, past its historic displays of Mughal grandeur, a teenagesuicide bomber blew himself up nearby at a police checkpoint,killing 13 people and wounding scores. An hour later, in Karachi, abomb exploded near a second procession, slaying two policemen."It's very tragic," Shah Mahmood Qureshi, Pakistan's ForeignMinister, tells TIME. "One can only despise the elements who arekilling innocent people, people who are performing their religiousduties." The marchers were marking the final day of an annualShi'ite mourning period that recalls the 7th century martyrdom oftheir most revered saint, Imam Hussain.
Most traditional days of mourning are now followed by fresh ones.Last September, as Shi'ites marched through Lahore's same streetsto mark the day of Ali, the Prophet's cousin, a triple suicidebombing ripped through the city, killing 31 worshippers andwounding more than 200. And just two days later, terror struckagain, with over 43 Shi'ites slain in the southwest city of Quettaamid an annual march in support of Palestinians. A year ago, 32people were brutally killed in Karachi on Ashura, the holiest dayfor Shi'ites, who are a minority in predominantly Sunni Pakistan."Sadly, you can predict a terror attack on any of these days andyou won't be wrong," says Talat Masood, a retired general turnedsecurity analyst. (See pictures of Christians under siege.) "We don't want sectarian strife," says Qureshi.
"Shi'as and Sunnishave lived together for centuries in harmony." The processions area centuries-old affair that have traditionally enjoyed the supportof the local Sufi-leaning Sunni population. But the sad reality isthat in a country founded by a Shi'ite, Mohammed Ali Jinnah, andpreviously led by two Shi'ite Prime Ministers, members of thecommunity feel increasingly under siege. Over a quarter ofPakistan's population is thought to be Shi'ite, making it thesecond largest home for the community after Iran. But in the holymonth of Muharram that has just passed, many community members havebeen reluctant to join processions.
They have held their majalis , or gatherings for mourning, in much smaller numbers. Some Shi'itepoliticians say they feel the need to keep their faith a secret. (See "The Martyrdom of Pakistan's Advocate of Tolerance.") The Lahore bombing would have claimed more lives had the attackermanaged to pierce a security cordon. The teenage boy, the latest ina series of child suicide bombers, was stopped by police before hecould get to larger crowds.
The grim news is that there are manymore like him out there. "There are thousands of boys who are readyto become suicide bombers. They just need a nudge," warns SharmeenObaid-Chinoy, an Emmy-winning filmmaker who has spent yearsstudying the phenomenon. For the militants, children are easy torecruit and train, highly susceptible to brainwashing and usuallystand a better chance at evading security measures. "Most of thechildren I've encountered are madrasah students," she adds,referring to traditional Islamic schools.
"They get recruited thereand are then sent for training." For many poor families, themadrasahs — which mainly teach pupils to read and memorize theKoran — continue to be a convenient and free education option. (See why Pakistan's Christians are nervous.) There are several stages involved. "First, the children areisolated," says Obaid-Chinoy. "There is no communication allowedwith their families, and they are not allowed to watch televisionor read anything." Older boys then appear, who motivate them withspeeches on the virtues of jihad.
The next step is to subject themto hours of propaganda videos, alleging atrocities against Muslimsat the hands of the Pakistan and U.S. armies. "That's the turningpoint," Obaid-Chinoy says. The training is not just taking place inthe wilds of the northwest, but also in Pakistan's heartlands.
The militants' anti-Shi'ite attacks are part of their broadeningassault on all religious communities they deem to be heretics orapostates. In recent years, they have attacked Christians, Sikhs,members of the Ahmadi Muslim sect and even the Barelvi Sunni sect,whose adherents form the majority of Pakistani Muslims. "They wantto deny space to anyone who doesn't follow the brand of Islam theyare propagating," laments analyst Masood. Anti-Shi'ite violencegoes back to the 1980s, when the dictatorship of General MohammedZia ul-Haq — with Saudi funding — backed sectarian groupswith the aim of countering Iranian influence in the region.
Manysuspect that funding continues. "I would not be surprised if Saudiindividuals, if not the state itself, still fund groups like theSipah-e-Sahaba and Lashkar-e-Jhangvi," adds Masood, referring togroups that began life as anti-Shi'ite but have since attackedother minorities. When al-Qaeda arrived in Pakistan in late 2001, these groups werenatural allies, sharing their sectarian agenda. "They had a networkspread throughout the country for al-Qaeda to use," says Amir Rana,director of the Pak Institute for Peace Studies.
Over time, thoselinks have deepened, reviving sectarian attacks that had diminishedin the late 1990s. Senior military officers report that whenPakistani soldiers were held hostage and executed by the PakistaniTaliban and their allies, the Shi'ites would be the first pickedout. Many analysts now consider Lashkar-e-Jhangvi — the evenmore vicious offshoot of the Punjabi group Sipah-e-Sahaba — tobe the most dangerous group operating in Pakistan today. It isheadquartered in North Waziristan, the one tribal area along theAfghan border that remains untouched by Pakistani militaryoffensives.
And it has cells seeded throughout the country, wherethey routinely menace Shi'ite communities. Such attacks have traumatized the Shi'ites living in Parachinarnear the Afghan border, Hangu and Dera Ismail Khan in thenorthwest, Quetta in Baluchistan, Jhang in Punjab and Gilgit in thenorthern hills. "The communities there feel they are not beinggiven ample protection by the government," says Marvi Memon, anopposition lawmaker who regularly visits Shi'ite communities there."They also say that the government hasn't been able to take actionagainst banned terrorist groups. In fact, we are seeing compromiseswith these terrorists." Such compromises were on display last year, when the Punjab LawMinister Rana Sanaullah Khan courted votes alongside the leader ofthe Sipah-e-Sahaba, a banned anti-Shi'ite group that has resurfacedunder a new name. "We hope the Punjab government is looking at theproblem also," says Foreign Minister Qureshi.
"They need to focusmore closely on the extremist groups there." The child suicidebombers are also increasingly being recruited from the south of theprovince. "Most of the students I saw were from the northwest, butmany are now Seraiki-speaking as well," says filmmakerObaid-Chinoy. Seraiki is the language predominant in southernPunjab. And it is Punjab, the largest and wealthiest province, that mayrequire the greatest attention in terms of Pakistan's futurestability. "While there's a genuine insurgency issue in the tribalareas," says senior opposition politician Mushahid Hussain,"there's a genuine terrorism issue in Punjab.
In the long run, it'seven more dangerous than the tribal areas. We are talking about thevery heart of the country." See TIME's Pictures of the Week. See the Cartoons of the Week. I am an expert from Telecommunications, usually analyzes all kind of industries situation, such as automobile gps tracking , sma patch cord.
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