Proxy War-Zone

No government in Pakistan has had the courage -to tackle them; neither has the judiciary which is reluctant to take up any case relating to them. Recently, when militants killed the brother-in-law of interior minister Shujjat Hussain, the Nawaz Sharif government vowed to pull its act together. But except for an assurance that it would initiate fresh laws against factional feuds, the government has shown little political will to take stronger measures. In fact, according to some reports, the government does not want to set up anti-terrorist courts as promised. Instead, it plans to set up a special bench to deal with sectarian clashes.

The violence is telling on relations with neighbouring countries. Every time a Shia is killed in a clash in Pakistan, it evokes a strong reaction from the Iranian government which, in the past, has criticised the lack of security to the minority community. After Sharif took over relations with Iran dipped when an Iranian diplomat was killed in Multan. Going beyond protocol, Sharif sent one of his closest aides, Mushahid Hussain, to accompany the body of the diplomat to Iran. The Iranian government reacted by offering to send a team of investigators, which was seen as a slap in the face for Islamabad.

Allegations are growing that these two sects are being funded by Iran and Saudi Arabia to fight their war on Pakistani soil. Part of the funds apparently find their way into madrasas from where youngsters, bred on a diet of hate, often grow up and join the war. Najam Sethi, editor of the weekly Friday Times, blames it on the 'foreign' hand: "Tell Iran and Saudi Arabia to stay clear. Crack down on those maulvis and religious ideologues who preach violence or want to drive opposing seas into paradise at the point of a bayonet." Some suggest a conference between Pakistan, Iran and Saudi Arabia "to thrash out an issue which is tearing our social fabric apart". But such a conference is unlikely because that would mean an admission that these countries have influence over the groups.

Pakistan's intelligence agencies claim that the lull in the Karachi violence has prompted several underworld operators to move into Punjab and trigger trouble in Sharifs home-state. Intelligence reports also blame India's RAW for sponsoring terrorist acts in Pakistan and admit that these seas are organised, well-financed units with vast networks.

The government has inherited this problem, it isn't of its own making. But to check the violence, Sharif has to first tackle attendant problems: the abundance of guns in the country; easy availability of arms licences; trace the sources which fund madrasas; the mushrooming of printing presses which churn out messages of hate.

The Sharif government has not yet taken steps to ban these seas, and interior minister Shujjat Hussain says the government has not clamped down on them because "they will either go underground or join other groups". No one is willing to buy this theory. "When the prime minister saw his own powers being threatened, he clipped the president's wings to emerge as an all powerful entity. What is stopping him from banning these groups which we can do without?" asks one politician.

Recently, the Sipah Sahaba chief, Maulana Azam Tariq, was put behind bars on a murder case: But on the eve of Muharram, when sectarian tension runs high, he was let out on bail. Interestingly, he is a member of the Punjab Assembly and had earlier been sent to jail by former prime minister Benazir Bhutto for two years. At that time, he was a member of the National Assembly. Even then, Benazir released him because her government needed his vote. This is how governments deal with sectarian terrorism.

There's more proof of the growing intolerance: in a jail riot at Adiala jail in Rawalpindi recently, over 100 prisoners were injured. The prisoners, mostly Shias, complained that the jail authorities had denied them their religious freedom. For the first time in the history of the country sectarian riots broke out in prison. The authorities can hardly blame this on the 'foreign hand' too. The rot has set in much deeper.