The world was shocked when mourning families refused to bury the bodies of their loved ones as a protest against the brutal attack on their community, Hazara in Baluchistan, Pakistan on Saturday, the 16th of February which led to the killing of 89 people. But this was not the first time when the members of the poor Hazara community (the majority of whom belong to the Shia sect of the Muslim faith), have had to deal with violence and strife – they have been facing these sectarian attacks for a long time. Less than two months ago, on the 10th of January, 2013, 117 people were killed, with more than 200 injured, when a suicide bomber blew himself up near the two Shia prayer halls in Hazara.
There has been a steep rise in the number of targeted attacks against the Shia community in Pakistan over the last few years, with the majority of those killings taking place in the Hazara region of Baluchistan. According to the South Asia Terrorism Portal (SATP), 396 members of the Shia community were killed in 2012 in 113 various targeted attacks. Of those 396 people, 152 were killed in Baluchistan alone, in 54 different incidents of violence. The year 2013 so far has proved to be similarly, or even more fatal. More than 200 members of the Shia community from Baluchistan (Hazara) have been killed so far since the beginning of the New Year.
Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LeJ), a violent anti-Shia militant organisation has proudly taken responsibility for these deadly instances of extremist sectarian violence. Their stated mission is to establish an orthodox ‘Deobandi’ (Sunni revivalist) state, and they have a history of attacking other faith groups, including Ahmedis, Berelvis, Christians and, most of all, Shia. After having been officially banned in Pakistan in 2001, LeJ adopted an aggressive stance against the state of Pakistan, and developed links through its terror network with other extremist organisations, including Al-Qaeda and Tahreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP). Today, LeJ is believed to be one of the deadliest terrorist organizations in Pakistan, which is not only targeting Shias, but anyone who stands in the way of promoting their interpretation of Islam.
Historically, LeJ was formed in 1995 by a group of extremists, the majority of whom took part in the early 1980s anti-Soviet Jihad in Afghanistan, and then moved back to Pakistan. They were accompanied by a number of their fellow jihadists, who were looking for new reasons to continue their extremist activities. It would not be unreasonable to say that groups like LeJ are the result of disastrous 1980s foreign policy of Pakistan, when the government (with the assistance of US) recruited, armed and trained local and international jihadis to fight against the Russians. After achieving their goals, the US abandoned Pakistan to sort out the postwar mess - the poor people of Pakistan are still paying the price of it, having to deal with a slew of well-trained terrorist organisations operating across the country. Presently, Pakistan has uncountable militant groups like LeJ who are gradually overtaking Pakistani society – devastating the country in every possible way.
Today, LeJ has initiated a campaign of violence against one faith community in particular – the Shia community, especially those in the Hazara region of Baluchistan. However, looking at the history of their terrorist activities in Pakistan, one cannot deny that their brutal activities are not limited to the Shia community. They are aiming to impose their religious beliefs on the people of Pakistan as a whole, and this fundamentalist approach spells trouble for anyone opposing their religious beliefs.
Some of the key incidents (collated by Standford University and SATP) are mentioned below, demonstrating a wide range of targeted attacks by LeJ against various faith communities and the state of Pakistan as a whole.
There has been a steep rise in the number of targeted attacks against the Shia community in Pakistan over the last few years, with the majority of those killings taking place in the Hazara region of Baluchistan. According to the South Asia Terrorism Portal (SATP), 396 members of the Shia community were killed in 2012 in 113 various targeted attacks. Of those 396 people, 152 were killed in Baluchistan alone, in 54 different incidents of violence. The year 2013 so far has proved to be similarly, or even more fatal. More than 200 members of the Shia community from Baluchistan (Hazara) have been killed so far since the beginning of the New Year.
Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LeJ), a violent anti-Shia militant organisation has proudly taken responsibility for these deadly instances of extremist sectarian violence. Their stated mission is to establish an orthodox ‘Deobandi’ (Sunni revivalist) state, and they have a history of attacking other faith groups, including Ahmedis, Berelvis, Christians and, most of all, Shia. After having been officially banned in Pakistan in 2001, LeJ adopted an aggressive stance against the state of Pakistan, and developed links through its terror network with other extremist organisations, including Al-Qaeda and Tahreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP). Today, LeJ is believed to be one of the deadliest terrorist organizations in Pakistan, which is not only targeting Shias, but anyone who stands in the way of promoting their interpretation of Islam.
Historically, LeJ was formed in 1995 by a group of extremists, the majority of whom took part in the early 1980s anti-Soviet Jihad in Afghanistan, and then moved back to Pakistan. They were accompanied by a number of their fellow jihadists, who were looking for new reasons to continue their extremist activities. It would not be unreasonable to say that groups like LeJ are the result of disastrous 1980s foreign policy of Pakistan, when the government (with the assistance of US) recruited, armed and trained local and international jihadis to fight against the Russians. After achieving their goals, the US abandoned Pakistan to sort out the postwar mess - the poor people of Pakistan are still paying the price of it, having to deal with a slew of well-trained terrorist organisations operating across the country. Presently, Pakistan has uncountable militant groups like LeJ who are gradually overtaking Pakistani society – devastating the country in every possible way.
Today, LeJ has initiated a campaign of violence against one faith community in particular – the Shia community, especially those in the Hazara region of Baluchistan. However, looking at the history of their terrorist activities in Pakistan, one cannot deny that their brutal activities are not limited to the Shia community. They are aiming to impose their religious beliefs on the people of Pakistan as a whole, and this fundamentalist approach spells trouble for anyone opposing their religious beliefs.
Some of the key incidents (collated by Standford University and SATP) are mentioned below, demonstrating a wide range of targeted attacks by LeJ against various faith communities and the state of Pakistan as a whole.
| 1999: LeJ attempted to assassinate Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif in Lahore 2002: LeJ members attacked the International Protestant Church in Islamabad. (5 killed, 46 wounded) 2002: LeJ detonated a car bomb outside the U.S. Consulate in Karachi. (11 killed, 26 wounded) 2002: LeJ operatives detonated a car bomb outside the Sheraton Hotel in Karachi, targeting a shuttle bus of French civilians working on a submarine project for Pakistan's government. (14 killed, 20+ wounded) 2006: LeJ is implicated in the massive suicide bombing of a Barelvi congregation at Nishtar Park in Karachi. (57 killed, 100+ wounded) 2008: A massive truck bomb nearly destroyed the Marriott Hotel in Islamabad, in an attack timed to coincide with a dinner at the president’s nearby residence. (56 killed, 266+ wounded) 2009: Fighters from LeJ (with support from JeM and TTP) are implicated in an attack on the headquarters of the Pakistani Army in Rawalpindi 2012: A powerful blast near an IT University located in Jinnah Town of Quetta killed at least five students and one professor, injuring at least 30 people. |
The CREATE Research Archive suggests that the terrorist groups survive longer if they diversify their attacks and rely more heavily on domestic terrorism. Perhaps the diversification of the attacks carried out by the LeJ and the focus on domestic terrorism is the prime reason for their survival, and the enduring threat that they pose. The most important causes, however, are the economic and political factors supporting LeJ. No terrorist group can last if they don’t find local support, and there is a unanimous political will to stop their activities.
It is high time that the entire political and religious leadership of Pakistan sends out a unified message of condemnation against the LeJ, since their existence is not only a threat to the diverse faith communities in Pakistan, but also to the state of Pakistan itself.
Rehman Anwer
