The real question: Why was Shikarpur targeted?

Politicians and residents claim sectarian violence is on the rise

SHIKARPUR:

Time is static in the prayer hall of the Karbala Maula Imambargah. The clock at the front of the room is stuck at 1:10pm - seconds before a bomb exploded near the staircase.

The blast, caused by eight kilogrammes worth of explosives, took place on Friday right after the imam finished his sermon. It left more than 62 dead and as many injured. The imam, according to doctors, was critically injured and was brought to Karachi for treatment.

The sleepy town of Shikarpur was not prepared for such an incident. Unlike Karachi, where imambargahs, mosques and other places of worship have top-notch security - there was none in the streets of the bazaar where the blast took place.

The main street in front of the Lakhidar chowk

According to the residents, two policemen were usually deployed for security outside the imambargah but they were not there when the bomb exploded. Some say they had gone to offer their prayers while others claim that no one had showed up that day.

On Saturday, more than 600 Rangers arrived in the city and were standing alert around the faulty clock tower of Lakhidar Chowk. A dozen or more policemen have since been on duty at the imambargah round the clock.

Sources claim that it was a security lapse. In a meeting with the chief minister the day after the blast, security agencies accepted responsibility for the incident and said that their primary focus was Karachi and they had ignored Shikarpur.

The city, it seems, was on no one’s radar, except the attackers.

Historical background

Shikarpur is located along the border of Sindh with easy access to South Punjab and Balochistan. The city has a rich cultural heritage and was built by the Daudpotas; the ruling family of Bahawalpur, in 1617 AD. The Afghan invasion in the 18th century was bad for trade in Multan and gave it quite a setback. The merchants moved to Shikarpur, and eventually the city thrived. After Partition, several of the city’s affluent Hindu families left and the trading network spread across borders.

Shikarpur’s claim to fame is its pickles and Dhak Bazaar, however, in the last decade or so tourism and trade in the city have suffered.

Madrassa issue

The root cause of the problem, according to Jatoi, is the seminaries mushrooming in and around the city. “A majority of these madrassas are unregistered and the district administration has no check on them,” he said. “Shikarpur was once a peaceful city. It has now turned into a place that breeds terrorism and criminals can do whatever they please.” He added that the government was sitting on a bubbling cauldron and should take action before it was too late.

The wuzukhana, a place for ablution at the Karabala Maula Imambargah

According to Jatoi, sectarianism and Shikarpur were topics members of the National Assembly were well aware of. “In 2008, when Makdoom Javed Hashmi was a Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz MNA, we were discussing how South Punjab had become a safe haven for militants,” he said. “Hashmi was visibly upset at the accusation and started to point fingers at Shikarpur. He said that if we didn’t watch out, Shikarpur would become a hub of terrorism. And looking at the situation today, I feel like he was right.”

Pakistan Peoples Party MPA Abid Bhayo believed, however, that the Shikarpur blast was not an isolated incident but part of the terrorism that is threatening the entire nation.

According to Sindh Assembly’s opposition leader Shaharyar Mahar, the government waited too long. “We should have taken an initiative back in 2010,” he told The Express Tribune. “It looks like these things are not on the government’s priority list.” He added that it was shameful that the chief minister came to visit the blast site after midnight as he was busy entertaining the Prime Minister in Karachi on Friday.

Education and lack of awareness, according to Badaruddin Ujjan, a former education secretary and commissioner of Larkana, were the real issues.

“Things are going from bad to worse due to a lack of proper formal education,” he said. “There were times when members of both sects, Shia and Sunni, worked in perfect harmony. For example during the first 10 days of Muharram it is difficult to differentiate who is who. But then there are bad days like Friday.” He added that it was important to focus on what was being taught in government schools and madrassas.

Staircase of the imambargah where the blast took place on Friday

Ujjan’s comments did not sit well with the general secretary of the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl in Sindh, Rashid Mehmood Soomro. “We are producing Ulemas, not terrorists,” said Soomro. “Weak government policies have made the country a target for terrorists.”

He demanded that the CM should resign as he was unable to run the province effectively.

Jamaiat Ulema-e-Pakistan’s Sindh leader Mufti Muhammad Ibrahim Qadri said that sectarian intolerance in the province had grown and the blast was a reaction to Operation Zarb-e-Azb.

“What is the government doing,” asked the deputy secretary of the Majlis Wahdat-e-Muslimeen Pakistan, Allama Ameen Shaheedi. “The government, army and political parties had agreed on an agenda to eliminate terrorism. This incident really makes us question them.”

Why Shikarpur?

At a distance of more than 500km away from the provincial capital, Shikarpur did become a victim of the wave of sectarian violence that had gripped Karachi.

The first reported incident took place back in 2010 when a suicide bomber tried to enter a house where a majlis was being held by the Jatoi family. The target was former MNA and National Peoples Party leader Ibrahim Jatoi, who survived.

Jatoi told The Express Tribune that the bomber was trying to enter his residence in Napierabad, a village in the outskirts of Shikarpur. “It was on Muharram 10,” he said. “The policemen on duty caught the man before he could make his way inside. Three men were injured in the attack as the bomber blew himself up.”

Three years later in 2013, Jatoi was the prime target of yet another suicide bomber. This time he was travelling in his bullet-proof vehicle. “I was on my way to Shikarpur when a suicide bomber rammed his motorcycle into my car,” he said. “The vehicle was destroyed completely but everyone inside the car remained unhurt.”

Jatoi, a practicing Shia and prominent leader, is still on the hit list. He claimed that he had decided to go to the imambargah after he heard about Friday’s blast but security agencies told him not to go as he could be putting himself in danger again.

Like Jatoi, Saeen Hussain Shah Kambar Waro was also a target. In 2013, his convoy was attacked near the Shikarpur and Jacobabad border. The attack left his grandson dead and Waro injured. A few days later, a bomb blast at the Dargah of Saeen Hajan Shah in Shikarpur claimed Waro’s life and left several others injured.

Just last month, Jatoi claimed, a cleric identified as Shafqat Hussain Shah was shot dead in Shikarpur. “And now, the imambargah has been attacked,” he said. “Had the government or district administration taken action at the time of the first attack and arrested the culprits, we would not have to see this day.”

Published in The Express Tribune, February 5^th, 2015.