Raja Javed Ali Bhatti
Pakistan enjoys a unique position in Islamic world. Its geography brings out her role not only in geo-politics of Middle East but also towards South and Central Asia. However, due to two decades of Afghan war and nefariously planned proxy sectarian war within its borders has polarized society. Any conflict within Islamic world is seen by Pakistani nation through sectarian prism which curtails its foreign policy options. Media must use all available platforms to sensitise nation on theme lines ,Pakistan has a homogenous society with many ethnicities and sects living peacefully. In today’s Middle East, the fault lines of conflict are increasingly sectarian. Iraq is aflame in Sunni-Shia Muslim violence; divisions along sectarian lines hamper political reconciliation in Lebanon; and the Sunni Gulf states face restive Shia minorities. And yet while Shia-Sunni unrest has arguably become a defining element of Middle Eastern politics, it has also spread to Pakistan-a Sunni-Muslim majority nation whose Shia minority may constitute as much as 20 percent of the total population. Pakistanis are “in denial” about the sectarianism in their country, yet the reality is that thousands of Pakistani Shia have died in sectarian violence. At May 2 Asia Program event cosponsored by the Middle East Program, argued that Pakistan is not a truly sectarian country; Sunnis and Shia largely “don’t hate each other” and most of the internecine violence is restricted to portions of some cities like Karachi and Quetta and in the provinces of Punjab and Northwest Frontier. Why, then, does a nonsectarian nation suffer sectarian strife? The answer, says Ahmed, is that Pakistan has become a “relocated battlefield” for the Sunni-Shia violence of the Middle East. Prior to the 1979 Iranian Revolution, Pakistan’s Shia minority was unresponsive to Iran’s radical Shia ideology. Instead, many Pakistani Shia clerics studied in the Iraqi Shia city of Najaf and developed views at variance with those of Iran’s revolutionary leader, the Ayatollah Khomeini. Yet Iran’s Shia-led revolution kindled a sectarian fervor that eventually spread to Pakistan. Pakistani Shias began training at the Iranian holy city of Qom. Pakistani authorities used jihadist militias in their proxy wars. And the seminaries that trained the jihadists began apostatizing through the issuing of fatwas. Later, questions arose as to whether Shias were responsible for the mysterious death of Pakistani leader Zia ul-Haq in 1988. Sectarianism has increased in Pakistan during the rule of Gen. Pervez Musharraf, Ahmed contended, because the Pakistani president is unable to control Pakistan’s “ungovernable spaces,” into which non-Pakistani sectarian-minded groups are entering and which may comprise as much as 60 percent of Pakistani territory. Ahmed argued that some aspects of Pakistan’s national identity have stoked its sectarian sentiment. After 1947, Pakistani leaders identified “exemplary personalities of the past.” These people were anti-Hindu-yet also anti-Shia. In effect, the Pakistani state was “lionizing” sectarian personalities. Similarly, following independence, Pakistan’s flag changed from an all-green shade to one that featured a white patch next to the green, meant to denote Pakistan’s minority sects. Yet instead of representing national inclusion, this patch became a symbol of Pakistan’s exclusion of minorities. A constitutional amendment was passed in 1974 allowing minority communities to be “excludable,” and Pakistan’s parliament declared that followers of the Ahmediyya sect of Islam were non-Muslim. Ahmed’s presentation underscored that Pakistan’s sectarian violence is part of a “transplanted war,” and that understanding this war requires a comprehension of sectarian divides across the Middle East. In his commentary, Yitzhak Nakash provided case studies of two different manifestations of sectarianism in the Middle East. In Iraq, the Sunni minority ruled over the Shia majority (and Kurdish minority) for 80 years until Saddam Hussein’s fall in 2003. The Shias’ resulting rise has reinforced sectarian struggle, which Nakash described as a political battle over the right to rule and how to define nationalism. Until the Iran-Iraq War, Iraqis-like Pakistanis-denied their sectarian problem, instead attributing it to the legacy of foreign rule. Conversely, in Lebanon, sectarianism has long been accepted as a “fact of life.” This attitude accounts for the willingness in Lebanon to establish political parties along sectarian lines. The Taif Accord of 1990 (which ended Lebanon’s civil war) codified what is known as the fragile “confessional” system, under which Lebanon’s 17 sects are organized along communal lines and governed by a pact arrived at by mutual agreement. Ultimately, Nakash averred, sectarian tensions have long existed in both Iraq and Lebanon-yet they have been exacerbated by external interventions. Due to foreign sponsored sectarian internal rifts nation has started to gauge each conflict in sectarian perspective. Sectarian conflict is spreading in the Middle East. This conflict is a product of developments over the course of 2012, including Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki’s consolidation of power and the development of an armed opposition movement in Syria. A turning point, however, came this year with the Syrian opposition’s loss of the strategic town of al-Qusayr in early June to regime forces backed by Lebanese Hezbollah. The intervention of this prominent Shi’a militant group has heightened the “sectarianization” of the conflict. Sectarian narratives provide an emotional rallying point for popular mobilization, and are easily leveraged by actors involved in the conflict to achieve their goals. The rise in sectarian violence sponsored,by external actors poses an existential threat to these already-fragile states. State weakness tends to encourage recourse to identities that do not align with the nation-state, such as sect, ethnicity, or tribe, to provide community. Sectarian conflict of the kind now witnessed is thus a symptom of political conflict rather than a cause. Left alone, however, it could become a cause of violence as groups strike preemptively against perceived threats to their communities or pursue revenge. Further violence then creates a vicious cycle of state weakness and perceived illegitimacy, which continues to lead citizens to feel less secure and to identify more with sub- and trans-national groups. Worsening violence and increasing polarization has led fighting to spill over from Syria into Lebanon, for example, as supporters of the Salafist Sheikh Ahmed al-Assir lashed out against Lebanese Army and Hezbollah. Further, the wider consequences of continued fighting, particularly the masses of refugees flooding into Jordan, Turkey, and Lebanon, will have destabilizing effects as these populations drain state coffers and test the ability of these states to maintain order. These effects will only worsen over time. In Syria, the Assad regime has played upon the fears of minority groups to rally support. Shi’a militias from outside Syria, such as Lebanese Hezbollah and the Iraqi groups Asa’ibAhl al-Haq and Kata’ib Hezbollah, have defined their role as protecting holy sites like the mosque of SayyedaZeinab. On the other hand, Sunni and Salafist militant groups have used anti-Shi’a rhetoric and antiIranian sentiment to justify their own actions. With the repeated occurrence of sectarian massacres in Syria, both by pro-Assad militias and Salafist groups, these justifications risk the creation of a self-fulfilling prophecy. The mainstream opposition, in the form of the Supreme Military Council, has defined their role in nationalist terms as a struggle for Syria.If Muslim countries of other sects are not willing to tailor their policies as per Pakistan’s sensitivities it is illogical for us to cater for theirs. Saddam, Gaddafi, Osama and QasimSolemani all were from different sects, however their murderer remains one. This implies that while we may view each conflict in sectarian aspects, world views us as Muslims only.Pakistan’s progress must not be made hostage to loyalties or sympathies of other nations. A conscience effort needs to be made by religious quarters to shun away any hatred feel towards members of other sects. Meanwhile, strict funding controls need to be exercised by Govt of Pakistan to avoid any influence of foreign narratives.
