Sectarianism - A threat to human security: A case study of Pakistan

Round Table

Volumn 94, Issue 382, 2005, Pages 613-628

  Shah, Mehtab Ali ^a  

^a UNIVERSITY OF SINDH   (Pakistan)

Author keywords

Jihad; Madrassahs; Pakistan; Sectarianism; Shia; Sunni; Terrorism

Indexed keywords

ISLAMISM; RELIGION; SAFETY; SECTARIANISM; TERRORISM;

ASIA; EASTERN HEMISPHERE; EURASIA; PAKISTAN; SOUTH ASIA; WORLD;

EID: 27644542874     PISSN: 00358533     EISSN: 1474029X     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1080/00358530500303627     Document Type: Article

References (39)

1. Amin Lakhani, 'Why sectarian violence must end', The Daily Dawn (Karachi), 19 August 2004.
2. The word Mullah takes on different meanings in different contexts. In Iran it is used for a person who knows jurisprudence and leads the congregation. Before the Islamic Revolution in Iran in 1979 'Mullah' was used in this sense. After the revolution it was replaced by such titles as Ayatollah and Hujatul. In Afghanistan and rural areas in Pakistan 'Mullah' denoted a congregation leader. Shia Mullahs follow Iranian usage. Their Sunni and Wahabi counterparts prefer to be addressed as Mufti or Moulvi Sahib or the Moulani, but still use the term Mullah for themselves.
3. The founder of the Wahabi sect was Sheikh Abdul Wahab from the Najid province of present day Saudi Arabia. He interpreted Islam as a puritan religious movement owing much to the Bedouin tradition. The Sheikh supported the Arab rebellion against the Turks during the First World War. Thereafter, the Wahabi brand of Islam enjoyed the official patronage of the British in the Gulf. After the installation of the Saudi dynasty in 1922, Wahabi Islam became the undeclared official religion of Saudi Arabia. Since the emergence of Al-Qaeda, in the 1980s, a triangular relationship between Al-Qaeda, Saudi clergy and the Saudi royal family developed; this enjoyed American patronage until 11 September 2001. The Wahabis of the subcontinent call themselves Daobandis, after Daoband, in the suburbs of Delhi, All the Wahabis of the subcontinent were originally educated there. Thus the Sindhi Wababis, who have many madrassahs in Thahri, call themselves Daobandis but the common people address them as Wahabis and this popular term has been used in this paper.
4. For the Bhutto - nationalist tussle and the situation exploited by the Mullahs and the military, see Mehtab Ali Shah, The Foreign Policy of Pakistan: Ethnic Impact on Diplomacy, 1971-1974, London: I. B. Tauris, 1977, pp. 137-138.
5. Sir Oliver Forster, the British High Commissioner to Pakistan in the mid-1980s, narrated an interesting story about Zia's pretensions to public piety. At one stage, Margaret Thatcher, then British prime minister, along with her Foreign Secretary, Sir Geoffey Howe, visited Torkham, the border crossing between Afghanistan and Pakistan. Zia suddenly said that he should be excused from conversation because he had to offer noon prayers. While he was offering his prayers not far from the guests, Sir Geoffrey commented on what a devout Muslim he was. Mrs Thatcher instantly retorted what a good friend of the West he was.
6. Ian Talbot, The History of Modern Pakistan, Lahore: Vanguard, 1999, p. 252.
7. Interview with Kachkol Ali Baloch, advocate, member of Balochistan Provincial Assembly for Mand and Leader of the Opposition, Quetta, 28 May 2004.
8. Fred Halliday, The Making of the Second Cold War, London: Verso, 1989.
9. I have borrowed this idea from the late Professor F. S. Northedge, who spoke of "the blob of tension" in the international context. According to him, conflict is a perennial factor in the international political system: whenever it recedes in one region of the world, it increases in another. For details, see Northedge, The International Political System, London: Faber and Faber, 1976, pp. 265-266. From the Northedge viewpoint the balance of conflict, like the balance of power, is something natural which functions automatically in the international political system. I have applied this model in the context of Pakistan's domestic situation. However, the relationship between ethnic and sectarian tension in Pakistan is not automatic but is manipulated by the army in order to gain greater leverage in national politics.
10. Ahmed Rashid, Taliban, Islam, Oil and the New Great Game in Central Asia, London and New York: I. B. Tauris, pp. 17-81.
11. John J. Coolley, Unholy Wars: America and International Terrorism, London: Public Press, 1999, pp. 222-223.
12. Azmat Abbass, 'Return to sender', The Herald, Karachi, December 2001, pp. 26-27.
13. Masoud Ansari, 'Divine mission', Newsline, Karachi, July 2004, pp. 46-52.
14. Zaffar Abbass, 'Action replay', The Herald, December 2003, pp. 56-57.
15. Azizullah Khan, 'Clueless in Quetta', The Herald, April 2004, pp. 31-33.
16. The Daily Dawn, 21 September 2004;
17. and The Daily Times (Lahore), 22 September 2004.
18. The Daily Dawn, 17 September 2004.
19. Comparative Casualty Figures: Killed in May 2004, study compiled by the CPLC.
20. See also Syed Shoib Hassan, 'Fear over the city', The Herald, June 2004, pp. 64-67.
21. Conversations with four different Karachi taxi drivers.
22. Zahid Hussain, 'Cover story', Newsline, August 2004, pp. 19-40.
23. Amin Lakhani, 'Why sectarian violence must end', The Daily Dawn, 19 August 2004.
24. Dawn Thursday Review, 10 June 2004.
25. In one spate of violence, 25 Shias were killed in Sialkot, bordering the Jammu region of Indian Jammu and Kashmir, four Shias were killed in Lahore and 46 followers of the LJ were killed in Multan. See The Daily Dawn on the different dates of October 2004.
26. Amjad Farooqi, an Al-Qaeda terrorist who twice attempted to murder General Musharraf was a member of Sipahi Sahab and Lashkari Jhangvi, with a price of Rs20 million on his head. He was killed in Nawab Shah and his accomplices were arrested in Sukkur and Mir Pur Khas. These arrests demonstrated that there is a strong network of religious terrorists present in the interior of Sindh. The Daily Dawn, 27, 28, 29 September 2004.
27. Arnold Toynbee coined and defined the term 'influential minority' for a group of persons who cannot be ignored while making decisions about a community. Toynbee, The Study of History: An Abridgement, London: Chatham House Publications, 1977, p. 77.
28. The Daily Dawn, 8 September 2004.
29. The Independent, 21 October 2004.
30. The Independent, 27, 28 September 2004.
31. The Daily Times, 10 September 2004;
32. 'Shias are targets in Pakistan too', The Economist, 4 March 2004, pp. 36-37;
33. and 'Winning the battles, not the war', The Economist, 7 August, 2004, pp. 12-13.
34. The Daily Dawn, 29 November 2004.
35. The Daily Dawn, 23 October 2004.
36. Arthur Schlesinger, 'Bush sabotages foreign policy', in Dawn/Guardian News Service, Daily Dawn, 22 October 2004.
37. Robin Cook, 'Legality of Iraq war does matter', Dawn/Guardian News Service, 16 October 2004;
38. Clare Short, 'Clare Short: at the court of King Tony', an extract published in The Independent (internet edition), 25 October 2004;
39. and 'Undiplomatic truth', leader, Guardian Weekly, 22 October 2004, p. 11.