Date Written    :  May 27, 2005
Date Modified :   May 31, 2005

Are we going to see a intensified civil war in Pakistan in future ?

May 31 2005: At least five people, including two assailants, were killed in a suicide bomb attack on Monday at a minority Shia mosque in Pakistan's southern city of Karachi, the latest religious violence to rock the country. Six employees of American fast-food franchise KFC were burnt to death in a riot that followed the attack. At this point of time it is the Pakistanis who are facing each other. But very soon, not only the American KFCs; but actually Americans will be targeted. And so the Americans need to be more carefull, in future.

Police and official agencies blamed Sunni groups, with affiliations to Osama bin Laden's al Qaida network for the attacks. These militants, angered by Pakistan's support of the U.S. in the war against terrorism, seem to be making use of the long standing rivalry between them and the Shias in a bid to weaken the government in the country.

The violence came three days after a suicide bomber blew himself up in a religious gathering at a Muslim shrine in the capital Islamabad, killing 19 people, most of them Shias.

May 27 2005: At least 18 Shia Muslims killed -- when Christina Rocca was concluding her visit -- when so-called peace talks with India were on in Rawalpindi -- when Islamists were due to stage an anti-U.S. rally outside Pakistani parliament. Are these just coincidences or is it Al-Qaida showing their presence and warning India, US and the Military Regime Of Musharraf; that the Wahabi Sunni Terrorism, financed by Saudi Arabia is going to intensify further and will turn Pakistan into another Iraq ?

At least 18 muslims were killed and dozens wounded by a suspected suicide bombing at a Muslim shrine in the Pakistani capital Islamabad on Friday, where thousands had gathered to pay homage to city's patron saint. The blast occurred at the Bari Imam shrine, which is close to Pakistan's main government buildings and the diplomatic enclave, where many embassies and diplomatic residences are located.

"Many (Shia) mourners have been martyred and many wounded," Qamar Haider Zaidi, a Shia Muslim preacher, told reporters as bloody, limbless bodies were recovered from the scene. Another Shi'ite cleric, Syed Guftar Hussain Sadiqi, said the blast appeared to be the work of banned Sunni militant groups or "foreign elements."

Comment: These killings, came as U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Christina Rocca was concluding a visit to the country and as so-called peace talks with Pakistan's nuclear-armed rival India were taking place in the city of Rawalpindi adjoining Islamabad. It was the latest incident of religious violence to rock Pakistan, which has been a key ally in the U.S.-led war on terror since the Sept. 11 attacks in 2001. The Shias and the Sunnis are fighting against each others, like in Iraq, where we are witnessing a civil war already. The sufferers in both Pakistan and Iraq are the Shias.

It is also to be noted that, the blast occurred hours before Islamists were due to stage an anti-U.S. rally outside parliament to protest the alleged desecration of the Koran, the Muslim holy book, at the U.S. military detention center at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba.

So are we going to see a intensified civil war in Pakistan in future ? And what are the reasons ?

Differences between Sunnis and Shia are rooted in a controversy that erupted in the very earliest days of Islam, over who should succeed Prophet Mohammad after his death in 632 A.D. Sunnis, who form a majority of Muslims worldwide including in Pakistan, regard Abu Bakr, one of Mohammad's companions, as his successor, while Shia regard prophet's son-in-law, Ali, as his successor.

The world is already witnessing a civil war in Iraq, where the Sunni-Wahabi Islamic Terrorism is on a killing spree. Apart from the US-UK Soldiers, most of the Muslims killed are Shias. Iraq has a substantial Shia population. Iran is another country where Shias are in majority, but since Sunnis are almost non-existent there.

According to the Reuters Archives : March 19, 2005 - At least 29 people killed minority Shia Muslim shrine in Baluchistan province in the southwest.
Dec 10, 2004 - 11 people killed in the southwestern city of Quetta by Baluch Liberation Army.
Oct 7, 2004 - At least 40 people are killed at a rally in Multan city to commemorate the assassination of a Sunni Muslim leader.
Oct 1, 2004 - A suicide bomber in a Shia mosque in the eastern city of Sialkot kills 25.
May 31, 2004 - A blast in a Shia mosque in the southern city of Karachi kills 20.
May 7, 2004 - A suicide attacker sets off a bomb in a Shia mosque in Karachi killing 15.
March 2, 2004 - At least 44 people are killed when suspected Sunni militants attacked a Shia procession in Quetta.
July 4, 2003 - Up to 47 people are killed in a suicide bomb attack on a Shia mosque in Quetta.