Families fleeing after 82 killed in 3 days of sectarian violence in Pakistan

PESHAWAR, Pakistan - Three days of bitter sectarian gunfights in north-western Pakistan have killed at least 82 people and wounded 156 more, a local official said on Nov 24.

“The clashes and convoy attacks on Nov 21, 22 and 23 have resulted in 82 fatalities and 156 injuries,” said the local administration official in the Kurram district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, speaking on condition of anonymity.

“Among the deceased, 16 were Sunni, while 66 belonged to the Shia community.”

Pakistan is a Sunni-majority country but Kurram district – near the border with Afghanistan – has a large Shi’ite population and the communities have clashed for decades.

The latest bout of violence began on Nov 21 when two separate convoys of Shi’ite Muslims travelling under police escort were ambushed, killing at least 43 and sparking two days of gun battles.

“Our priority today is to broker a ceasefire between both sides. Once that is achieved, we can begin addressing the underlying issues,” provincial Law Minister Aftab Alam Afridi said on Nov 24.

Shi’ite Muslims also attacked several Sunni locations on the evening of Nov 22 in Kurram, once a semi-autonomous region, where sectarian violence has resulted in hundreds of deaths over the years.

“Terrifying sight”

Around 300 families fled on Nov 23 as the gunfights with both light and heavy weapons continued into the night. However, no fresh casualties were reported on the morning of Nov 24.

“The mobile network across Kurram remains suspended and traffic on the main highway is halted,” said the local administration official.

Mr Rehan Muhammad, a 33-year-old journalist from the Sunni-majority area of Bagan in Kurram, had to flee his home as the clashes worsened.

“Gunfire suddenly erupted on Nov 22 after sunset... I realised it was an attack in retaliation for (the Nov 21) incident and immediately grabbed my children, despite the bitter cold, and told my family to flee our home towards the mountains on foot,” he said.

“The sight of houses in our village set ablaze was terrifying. I could see the entire village engulfed in flames,” Mr Muhammad added.

“At dawn, someone shouted that the attackers had left. When I returned, nothing was left. All that remained of my house was a pile of charred debris.”

A senior administrative official in Kurram told AFP that the attacks “resulted in the destruction of 317 shops and over 200 homes”.

A senior Kurram police officer said that “around 7pm (1400 GMT), a group of enraged Shi’ite individuals attacked the Sunni-dominated Bagan Bazaar”.

“After firing, they set the entire market ablaze and entered nearby homes, pouring petrol and setting them on fire,” he said, adding that local Sunnis “also fired back at the attackers”.

Tribal and family feuds are common in Sunni-majority Pakistan, where the Shi’ite community has long suffered discrimination and violence.

Mr Javedullah Mehsud, a senior official in Kurram, told AFP there were “efforts to restore peace... (through) the deployment of security forces” and with the help of “local elders”.

However, another official said the district does “not have enough police and administrative staff” in the area, where the federal government and provincial authorities in Peshawar struggle to impose the law.

“We informed the provincial government that the situation was critical and that additional troops needed to be urgently deployed,” the official said under condition of anonymity.

“Alarming frequency of clashes”

In October, at least 16 people, including three women and two children, were killed in a sectarian clash in Kurram. Clashes in July and September killed dozens of people and ended only after a jirga, or tribal council, called a ceasefire. The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) said 79 people died between July and October in sectarian clashes.

Several hundred people demonstrated against the violence on Nov 22 in Pakistan’s second-largest city of Lahore and commercial hub Karachi.

In Parachinar, the main town of Kurram district, thousands participated in a sit-in, while hundreds attended the funerals of those who died in the Nov 21 attack. The victims were mainly Shi’ite civilians.

The latest violence drew condemnation from officials and human rights groups. The independent HRCP urged the authorities in November to pay “urgent attention” to the “alarming frequency of clashes” in the region, warning that the situation has escalated to “the proportions of a humanitarian crisis”.

“The fact that local rival groups clearly have access to heavy weaponry indicates that the state has been unable to control the flow of arms into the region,” the HRCP said in a statement. AFP