In Pakistan, unarmed and helpless Shias are marching on a one-way street to annihilation, as the mercenaries who treat Shias like sitting ducks on the receiving end still remain at large and protected by the military, reported Baltimore Post-Examiner (BPE).
After Iran and India, Pakistan has the world’s third-largest Shia community, accounting for ten per cent of the total population, however, more than half of Pakistani Muslims are wary of identifying with Shias as fellow believers, the report said.
Shias feel more vulnerable to prejudice and persecution as perception shifts, and as a result, Shia killers feel more confident attacking them.
Shia assassinations were not uncommon prior to the establishment of Pakistan, but they became more frequent and severe during and after the Afghan War, the report stated further, adding that the Pakistani army trained and recruited many anti-Shia individuals for the Soviet-Afghan war.
Canada’s International Forum for Rights and Security reported that over 4,000 Shias were reportedly murdered for their religious beliefs between 2013 and 2021.
The Washington-based United States Institute for Peace said 3,800 Shias were murdered between 2007 and 2013, with 325 of those killings occurring in 2012.
Terrorist organisations such as TTP, Jaish-e-Muhammad, Lashkar-e-Islami, and Ansar-ul-Islam, which have access to military weapons, add fuel to the fire during attacks on Shias, stated the report, adding that Mast Gul, a member of the Harkatul Mujahideen and the Al-Qaida-linked International Islamic Front, was among the terrorists involved in the Shia attacks in Kurram.
