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2004-10-10 Afghanistan/South Asia
Mufti Jamil is still dead
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Posted by Fred 2004-10-10 12:19:45 AM|| || Front Page|| [11130 views since 2007-05-07]  Top

#1 
fears of escalating sectarian violence in Pakistan
They misspelled "certainty."
Posted by Barbara Skolaut  2004-10-10 12:48:15 AM||   2004-10-10 12:48:15 AM|| Front Page Top

#2 This sectarian violence in Pakistan has been going on for quite some time. I know several RBers follow the situation quite closely.

How close is Pakistan from a full-blown Shia versus Sunni civil war? How does the Sunni/Shia divide manifest itself in the various terrorist groups and radical political parties?
Posted by Kirk 2004-10-10 1:03:48 AM||   2004-10-10 1:03:48 AM|| Front Page Top

#3  He appealed for clerics of all the sects to find out "who is trying to pit Shiites and Sunni Muslims against each other."

Sectarian violence in Pakistan has always been blamed on external forces. If it is not ‘the American hand’ and ‘the Jewish lobby’ behind the massacres, it is ‘the Hindu element’, ‘the Afghan factor’, ‘the Iranian design’, ‘the Saudi finance’ — even ‘the Al Qaeda network’. One of the factors sustaining sectarian violence for decades is our failure to look within for the causes and culprits. Blaming outsiders is easy but hardly solves a problem. There is a pressing need for admitting that the ‘Muslims cannot kill Muslims’ notion is not helpful in combating sectarian crime. It is high time we realised that we have a ‘situation’. The only time we have had a degree of success in dealing with sectarianism has been when we have dealt with it in an objective manner. There are no two ways about it.
Posted by Paul Moloney 2004-10-10 1:09:28 AM||   2004-10-10 1:09:28 AM|| Front Page Top

#4 Kirk;
I don't think there is much chance of a Sunni/Shia civil war, but if there was, the Shias would be exterminated since they are outnumbered and outgunned.

Essentially all the Pakistani Jihadis belong to either of two Sunni sects - the Deobandis and the Alhe-Hadith (Salafis). There are other sects in Pakistan, but essentially the sectarian conflict is a war between the Deobandis and the Shia.

The grand Deobandi alliance is probably the biggest force in Pakistan after the state’s armed forces. Based in Karachi, the Binori Complex houses leaders that sit in the shuras of the various Deobandi jehadi militias. Its religious scholars sit in the shura of Sipah-e-Sahaba as well as he shura of the two militias Harkatul Mujahideen and Jaish-e-Muhammad. Since they also have similar influence over the JUI, the Sipah-e-Sahaba of Maulana Azam Tariq and the JUI, both factions have a kind of secret liaison, so that the manifest anti-Shia orientation of the Sipah doesn’t encompass the JUI although the latter has the same unspoken view.

The Shias aren't allowed to run above ground militias like the Sunnis, because the ISI only use Sunni Jihadis in Kashmir and Afghanistan. The Shias do have underground terrorist outfits that often assasinate Deobandi leaders in response to massacres of Shia.

You can read more on Pak sectarianism here if you want.
Posted by Paul Moloney 2004-10-10 1:27:49 AM||   2004-10-10 1:27:49 AM|| Front Page Top

#5 Thanks, Paul. Good info. One more naive question ...

"the ISI only use Sunni Jihadis in Kashmir and Afghanistan"

Is the ISI running rogue operations in Afghanistan, or is Musharraf hedging his bet, in the unlikely event the U.S. and its allies are ejected from Afghanistan?
Posted by Kirk 2004-10-10 3:10:31 AM||   2004-10-10 3:10:31 AM|| Front Page Top

#6 Just IMHO, I believe that Musharraf is allowing a certain level of calibrated support to the Taliban and Hekmatyar elements, while supporting Afghan political groupings, in order to keep Pakistan's options open. Similar to Iran supporting both Muqtada Al-Sadr in opposition to the occupation of Iraq, and SCIRI working within the system.

I believe part of the reason there haven't been many American casualties in Afghanistan, and why Kabul doesn't have bombs going off every day, is due to the Taliban being preassured by the ISI to keep their activities at a low level.
Posted by Paul Moloney 2004-10-10 4:58:05 AM||   2004-10-10 4:58:05 AM|| Front Page Top

#7 Off-topic or abusive comments deleted]
Posted by dennisw 2004-10-10 9:26:48 AM||   2004-10-10 9:26:48 AM|| Front Page Top

#8 Off-topic or abusive comments deleted]
Posted by dennisw 2004-10-10 9:26:48 AM||   2004-10-10 9:26:48 AM|| Front Page Top

#9 Off-topic or abusive comments deleted]
Posted by dennisw 2004-10-10 9:26:03 AM||   2004-10-10 9:26:03 AM|| Front Page Top

#10 Off-topic or abusive comments deleted]
Posted by dennisw 2004-10-10 9:26:03 AM||   2004-10-10 9:26:03 AM|| Front Page Top

09:26 dennisw
09:26 dennisw
01:07 Ebbinesh Hupinerong1733
09:26 dennisw
09:26 dennisw
04:29 Thriger Clusing2422
04:36 Thriger Clusing2422
16:27 Frank G
16:11 Ibraheem
11:48 lex
09:18 Robert Crawford
09:12 2b
09:11 2b
09:07 Mike Sylwester
08:58 2b
08:55 2b
01:01 Zenster (not Gluper Hupeating3882)
00:56 Zenster (not Gluper Hupeating3882)
00:55 Jack
00:48 Stephen
00:12 polyamorous moonbat
00:07 mojo
23:54 A. Bungfodder
23:48 A. Bungfodder









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