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Sectarian attack

Dawn, Editorial, 21 hours ago

A POWERFUL car bomb on Monday shattered the relative calm that had prevailed in Parachinar over the last few months. The bomb exploded in a market, killing and injuring a number of people. A similar blast had struck a bazaar in the Kurram Agency capital in February. The TTP’s Ghazi group — a hitherto unknown outfit — has claimed responsibility for the attack, saying it was targeted at Shias. However, too much effort should not be spent on scrutinising the names of groups, as militants have a habit of regularly splintering into factions and re-branding themselves — such is the amorphous nature of militancy in Pakistan. In this case, there are suggestions that the attack could have been the handiwork of some elements from the TTP chapter in Darra Adamkhel.

While many parts of the country are currently being affected by sectarian terrorism — and Parachinar cannot be detached from this wider narrative — the region also has its own particular dynamics, as tribal vendettas get intertwined with sectarian politics. Yet while some degree of tension has existed between Kurram’s Shia and Sunni tribes in the strategically important area for the past few decades, in the current situation it has been witnessed that elements from outside the Agency are working to sabotage peace effort [...]