Violence in Karachi

As the month of Muharrum begins, we have already seen the outbreak of the terrible sectarian violence we have now come to associate with it. A month of great significance to all Muslims everywhere in the world, no matter which sect they belong too, has in our country been turned into an occasion where merciless killings take place, the victims targeted solely on the basis of the school of thought they are affiliated with.

We have already seen a dangerous pattern of death erupt in Karachi. In what seems like retaliation for the death of five Shias in the city the previous day, seven Sunni men were gunned down on November 5. Six were associated with the Ahle Sunnat Wal Jamaat, the new name for the banned, extremist Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistan. The seventh victim was a seminary student. The tit-for-tat style targeted killings are in many ways reminiscent of the murders which shook Punjab through the mid- and late- 1990s, with the death of members of one sect met with that of the other in a continuous cycle. The killings in Karachi are a reminder of our failure to tackle these groups and instead allow them to spread out across the country.

There is reason to be apprehensive, too, of a possible acceleration in sectarian violence. The volatility of Karachi is, of course, well established, and it has in the past been the site of the most horrendous Ashura massacres. Tension remains high in other parts of the country, too. While security has been deployed everywhere, judging by happenings in Karachi, it is clear that the Rangers or police present everywhere can do little. The intelligence agencies, too, seem to have failed and as a result, we have no way of knowing just how much blood we will see spilled over the coming month, with the monster of sectarianism once again rearing up its head as bodies tumble as an outcome of the senseless hatred that drives it forward across a country badly in need of harmony and peace.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 7^th, 2013.

Like Opinion & Editorial on Facebook, follow @ETOpEd on Twitter to receive all updates on all our daily pieces.