Shia-Sunni Strife: Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province Of Pakistan Massacre Result Of Sunni Takfirism
By New Age Islam Staff Writer
30 November 2024
Shias Of Parachinar Cannot Pass Through Majority Sunni Areas.
Main Points:
1. Last week Sunni militants killed more than 50 Shias of Parachinar in Pakistan.
2. About 100 passenger convoys were travelling from Peshawar to Kurram escorted by the police when they were attacked.
3. Parachinar is a Shia majority region in Pakistan bordering Afghanistan.
4. Lower part of Kurram Agency is inhabited by Sunni community.
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(Representative Photo from Files)
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The Shia-Sunni strife in Kurram Agency, a Shia majority district of Pakistan bordering Afghanistan has not fully ended despite a one week 'ceasefire' between the two communities brokered by the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government headed by chief minister Ali Amin Gandapur. On Thursday last week, Sunni militants fired on passenger convoys headed to Parachinar from Peshawar killing more than 47 Shias including women and children. Some reports gave even a high number of casualties. A violent backlash from Shias of Parachinar resulted in gutting of houses and markets of Sunnis of lower Kurram including Bigun Bazar and other villages and killing of some Sunnis. The clashes have continued and the total number of casualties have reached to 82 out of which 66 are Shias and 16 are Sunnis. About 150 are injured.
The Pakistan government was preoccupied with controlling Imran Khan's protest rally in Islamabad and did not provide sufficient security to the passenger convoy and even after the massacre. The result is that Shias and Sunnis have still been killing each other.
The massacre itself speaks of the lawlessness prevailing in Pakistan, particularly in the tribal regions of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Kurram Agency district of Pakistan is bordered with Afghanistan and is largely inhabited by the Shia community. The lower part of the Kurram Agency is largely inhabited by the Sunni community. The road linking Parachinar, capital town of Kurram district, to Peshawar and the rest part of Pakistan passes through the Sunni majority area. Due to hostilities between the Shias and Sunnis of Kurram Agency, this road is not safe for Shias as they are attacked by the Sunnis. Therefore, the road remains closed. The government occasionally allows convoys of Shias in hundreds to travel from Parachinar to Peshawar and vice versa. On Thursday last week, such arrangement was made and 100 passengers from Parachinar to Peshawar and 100 convoys from Peshawar to Parachinar travelled with security team. The vehicles were boarded by Shias. As the convoy carrying Shias from Peshawar approached Parachinar, Sunni militants fired on the passengers indiscriminately from the hills and jungles killing innocent passengers including women and a six month old child.
Violent clashes between tribal leaders for land or political superiority is usual among the tribal communities of Pakistan and Afghanistan. Therefore, the killing of tribal leaders and their aides by the rival Shia or Sunni groups would have been considered usual but that innocent passengers of the convoy including women and children were indiscriminately killed indicates that the massacre was motivated by sectarian ideology of Takfirism propagated by the Sunni militant schools of Pakistan. This militant school preaches that Shias are kafirs and worthy to be killed. Even Shia children are called snakelings suggesting that after growing up to manhood, they would also become Kafirs and enemies of the Sunnis. Therefore, killing the enemies while they are still a child is an act of virtue according to this Takfiri ideology. That is the reason, Taliban regularly kills children of Shia children by attacking their schools and school vans.
Mohammad Yasir Emami of Parachinar narrates how Sunni Takfiri militants and Maulvis propagate this Takfiri ideology among the Sunnis of Kurram. A militant called Eid Manzar of Kurram exhorts Sunnis to kill Shias and says that whoever kills one Shia will go to heaven. The imam of a mosque has declared the belongings of Shias as Maal-e-Ghanimat (spoils of war). They loot truckloads of wheat flour belonging to Shias as spoils of war.
After the Thursday massacre, both sides have held women and men and dead bodies hostage because they are spoils of war. Talks are being held to facilitate the exchange of hostages and dead bodies.
Though Shias live in majority in Kurram Agency for centuries, the hostilities between them intensified after the Iran Revolution in 1979 and the Rusian invasion of Afghanistan. Gen. Ziaul Haque assisted Taliban with funds and training against Soviet Russia and the bordering areas of Pakistan became a nursery of Taliban who attacked Russian forces from the bordering areas. The Russian army attacked the Taliban in retaliation and the Shias of Kurram bore the maximum brunt of the Russian attacks. This antagonised the Shia community and they began opposing Taliban's attacks from their areas. This pitched Taliban against the Shias. And the hostilities between them intensified with time. The 1979 revolution in Iran resulted in the establishment of a Shia theocratic state and Shias of the world, particularly of Kurram Agency began asserting their religious identity more arrogantly. The Islamic world was now distinctly divided between Shia and Sunni countries and Iran asserted itself as the leader of the Shia community in the same way as Saudi Arabia was known as the leader of the Sunni world. This Shia Sunni divide had its consequences on the relations of the Shias and Sunnis of Kurram Agency as well. The disproportionate land distribution among the Shias and Sunnis of Kurram has also resulted in bloody clashes between the two communities in 1992 and 2007 as well. But the government of Pakistan did not show the resolve to solve the nagging problem. Instead it mobilised all its resources to fuel insurgency in Kashmir. It feigns solidarity with the people of Kashmir but does not show an iota of sympathy for the Shias and Sunnis of Kurram Agency. Shias of Parachinar are forced to live in an open jail as they are not allowed to travel to Peshawar and other parts of Pakistan. They are stuck in Peshawar for months and wait for the road to be opened by the government and safely escorted through the road by the security forces. Now travelling in convoys with security is also unsafe. The Shias of Parachinar have to travel to Peshawar or other parts of Pakistan via Afghanistan.
The people of Parachinar have alleged that the massacre was committed in connivance with the security forces and the police. They did not fire a single shot at the militants. Instead they were seen fleeing the place to save themselves.
Though, the Shia-Sunni strife has its roots in the land disputes between the two communities and the political issues of the region, the massacre of the innocent civilians is motivated by the Sunni militants who follow the Takfiri ideology of Sunni militant mullahs and even some renowned Islamic scholars of Pakistan. This is the reason, renowned and celebrated Sunni Islamic scholars of Pakistan and Islamic world like Mufti Taqi Usmani, Mufti Tarique Masood, Dr Tahirul Qadri and Dr Zakir Naik have not issued any statement condemning this Takfiri ideology which is behind this bloodshed of innocent people.
URL: https://www.newageislam.com/islam-sectarianism/shia-sunni-kp-pakistan-takfirism/d/133870
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