Blood and mourning: Sectarian violence in Muharram 2012

The onset of Muharram means heightened intensity of religious fervor, especially for Shia muslims, who observe the anniversary of the historic Battle of Karbala by participating in large mourning processions on Muharram 9 and 10 or 'Ashura'.

But in Pakistan, unfortunately, Muharram has been accompanied with a trend of turning from symbolic to real mourning with an upsurge of sectarian violence all over the country.

This year, as the government and security officials seeks to tighten security in the country, Rangers have already foiled a suspected Muharram 10 bomb attack in Karachi.

So far, there have only been a few sporadic incidents of violence. However, Muharram had been preceded by a bloody few days of target killing which saw as many as 20 people being targeted in Karachi.

Here, we showcase a timeline of sectarian violence during the Muharram in 2012, pointing towards what authorities must try to prevent:

 

News of attack	Excerpt	November 2012
Under Threat: Taliban may attack Muharram processions in G-B	Interior Ministry wrote a letter to G-B govt warning of TTP attacks during Muharram	15
Violence: Two killed, two injured in Balochistan	Firing targeted two Hazaras in a sectarian attack	16
Targeted attacks: Explosion at CD shop	A CD shop in Shabqadar Bazaar was completely destroyed in a bomb explosion	18
Arrested 'TTP militant' warns of Muharram attacks	TTP's Akhtar Mehsud warned of four suicide bomb attacks at Muharram processions in Karachi	18
Former JI chief escapes suicide attack in Mohmand	A suicide bomber blew up near Qazi Hussain Ahmad's convoy in Haleemzai tehsil	19
Karachi violence: Bomb attack kills 3 near Imambargah	A powerful bomb targeted an Imambargah in Abbas Town, Karachi	19
Shias in Pakistan receive death threat text messages	“Kill, Kill, Shias,” said the texts, ahead of Ashura	22
Muharram security breach: Blasts rip through Pindi, Karachi	Three terror attacks on two Imambargahs in Karachi and Rawalpindi killed 12 immediately	22
Pakistan Taliban claim attacks on Shias in Karachi and Pindi	TTP claimed responsibility for the above attack, the combined death toll for which rose to 25	22
Grenade attack on Peshawar checkpost kills one, injures two	A hand grenade was hurled at a security post set up near the Pahari Purah Imambargah	22
Lakki Marwat: Abortive suicide attack near Imambargah	A suicide bomber blew himself up after police challenged him near an Imambargah in a southern district of K-P	23
Quetta plot foiled: FC recovers explosives primed for attack	Frontier Corps (FC) recovered around 250kg of explosives from a car near the Pak-Afghan border in Killa Abdullah district, Balochistan	23
Muharram security: Major terror plots foiled on Ashura	100 kg explosives seized and 35 terrors suspects were arrested in Punjab	25
Muharram 10: Processions finish, blast leaves 5 dead	A bomb blast in Dera Ismail Khan killed at least five people and injured over a hundred during a procession	25
Muharram security breach: Blast targets mourners in DI Khan; 10 killed	A roadside bomb targeted a procession	25
10 more killed in targeted attacks	10 men killed across different neighbourhoods in Karachi	29
		December 2012
Targeted attack: JUI-F leader's killing triggers tension in G-B	Ubaidur Rehman, a local JUI-F leader, was shot by gunmen outside his home in Gilgit City	1
Terror attacks fail: Suicide bomber, aide killed in untimely explosion	A suicide bomber and his helper were killed when their suicide vest went off accidentally in Jaba Sohail	3
Over 100 Ahmedi graves desecrated in Lahore	Over 100 tombstones were desecrated by unidentified men at an Ahmadi graveyard in the Model Town area of Lahore	3
Two Rangers, traffic policeman killed in Al Asif check post attack	Unidentified armed men attacked an Al Asif check post near Super Highway	10
2 killed, 8 injured in Karachi blast	A cracker blast in Landhi killed two people	12
Sectarian violence: Two killed, seven injured in university clashes	Two student groups clashed in Gilgit	13
Balochistan violence: Three killed in sectarian attacks	A Hindu doctor, a Panjgur airport manager and a Shia citizen Shabbir Ahmed were shot dead in separate incidents	14

70 plus - Estimated number of civilians and security officials killed

30 plus - Estimated number of attacks

Close to 150 - Estimated number of people injured

A slideshow of this year's ongoing Muharram processions can be viewed here.

Correction: In an earlier version of this article, it was stated that the Shias "celebrate" the anniversary of Karbala. The error is regretted and the inappropriate word has been replaced.