Terrorist group Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and other Sunni groups are planning to carry out suicide attacks against the Shias in Gilgit Baltistan. Many believe that such attacks are carried out with the complicity of the state security agencies. There are reports of four suicide bombers given the task to re-enact the 1988 Gilgit massacre … writes Dr Sakariya Kareem
Several thousand Shias in Gilgit Baltistan are living under constant dread, fearing unprovoked attacks from Sunni groups and the state’s complicity with such groups to suppress the Shias in the mountainous region.
The region was once dominated by the Shias, the only region other than Iran. But in the past few decades, Pakistan state, especially its army, has been engaged in a demographic war, harassing, killing and frightening Shias to such an extent that Shias are today in the minority. The bloodletting has not stopped even now. Every festival, Shias have to look over their shoulder to save themselves from terrorist attacks or targeted killings, at the behest of the army.
This time around, during Ramzan and Eid, Shias fear another round of killing and harassment.
There is a great fear that terrorist groups like Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) are planning to carry out suicide attacks against the Shias. Many believe that such attacks are carried out with the complicity of the state security agencies. There are reports of four suicide bombers given the task to re-enact the 1988 Gilgit massacre.
The hand of the security agencies in the killings is seen in the involvement of extremist Sunni groups like Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, Anjuman Sipah-e-Sahaba and many of their offshoots which have been targeting the Shias since the Zia-ul-Haq days. The worst Shia massacre happened in 1988.
In May 1988, during the Eid festival, local Shias decided to hold the festivities before the Sunnis which caused a dispute which soon turned into arson and killing. The Pakistan army sent an armed group of Sunni tribals accompanied by militants from Afghanistan led by Osama bin Laden causing mayhem in the region, killing over 900 Shias in the massacre.
Although the federal government has also issued a grave warning, local Shia population has no faith in the government. They are today living under constant fear. The Shias have been asked to be extra vigilant during the Friday and Eid prayers.
The distrust between the government and Shias has been brewing since last year when a Shia cleric was arrested under trumped-up blasphemy charges. The protests raged for days with the people shouting “Chalo, chalo Kargil chalo” (let us go to Kargil). The cleric, Agha Baqir al-Hussaini, is a popular leader of the Shias and his arrest angered the community which blocked the Karakoram Highway to demand his release.
In August 2012, about 25 Shias were pulled out a bus and shot in a sectarian attack. The same year, on February 28, gunmen in military fatigues threw 18 Shias from buses travelling from Rawalpindi to Gilgit, shooting them dead in cold blood. On April 3, a Sunni Muslim mob dragged nine Shia Muslims from buses and also shot them dead in the town of Chilas, about 60 miles south of Gilgit.
Even after several killings, the state has failed to provide adequate security for the safety of the Shias in Gilgit Baltistan. There is only one reason for this callous indifference: Sunni Pakistan wants to convert the region into a Sunni-dominated region.