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Shia Islam in Pakistan

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Shia Islam in Pakistan

The Shia population in Pakistan is estimated as being between 5-20% of the country's total population. Pakistan is said to have a Shia population of at least 16 million, like India. However, Vali Nasr claims the Shia population to be as high as 30 million. A PEW survey in 2012 found that 6% of Pakistani Muslims were Shia.

Contents

History

Historical accounts on the conversion of local Indian people to the Shia Islam are not very clear and different opinions are present in this regard. However, what is most clear is that indian city of Lucknow has remained a center of Shia Islam in Indian subcontinent for quite a while. After the division of India in 1947, a great number of Shia Muslims residing in the Indian parts of subcontinent migrated to the newly formed state of Pakistan. While Shi'a Muslims have found a refuge in Pakistan, tensions between them and certain sections of Sunnis has resulted in the creation of Shi'a-specific organizations in recent years. In the past, Shias in this region of Pakistan have also faced persecution by some Mughal Emperors which resulted in murder of Shia scholar Qazi Nurullah Shustari also known as Shaheed-e-Thaalis, which means the "Third Martyr". Many Nawabs were among the Shias who were rulers in present-day India or Pakistan.

Political influence

Muhammad Ali Jinnah, the Quaid-e-Azam ("the Great Leader"), the founder of the state of Pakistan, was born into a Shia family. However, his relatives and associates later testified in court that Jinnah became a firm Sunni Muslim by the end of his life.

While in past few decades, to address the legal needs and political support of the Shi'a population in Pakistan organizations like Tehrik-e-Jafaria Pakistan and Imamia Students Organisation were formed, while Sipah-e-Muhammad Pakistan, a Shia militant group, was formed to deter the militancy against Shias by Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistan as well as Laskhar-e-Jhangvi, Deobandi militant groups. Although the Sunni and Shia Muslims usually coexist peacefully, sectarian violence is carried out sporadically by radical groups.

When General Zia ul-Haq, the former military ruler of Pakistan, introduced new laws to make Zakat deductions mandatory for every Muslim during the 1980s, Tehrik-e-Jafaria held a large public demonstration in Islamabad to compel the government to exempt the Shia Muslim community from this law. This protest resulted in the "Islamabad Agreement" in which the government agreed to introduce a separate syllabus for Shia students in public schools, as well as exempt the Shia community from the Zakat law, since Shia consider Zakat as a personal tax (to be paid to the needy) not collectible by the state. According to one senior Pakistani journalist who witnessed these events, Iranian leader Ayatollah Khomeini played an important role in this agreement being reached, and he sought assurances from General Zia al-Haq that Shia demands would be met. A message from Ayatollah Khomeini was also read out to the Shia protesters in Islamabad in which he called for them to keep up their spirits.

Problems

Shias allege discrimination by the Pakistani government since 1948, claiming that Sunnis are given preference in business, official positions and administration of justice. Attacks on Shias increased under the presidency of Zia-ul-Haq, with the first major sectarian riots in Pakistan breaking out in 1983 in Karachi and later spreading to Lahore and Balochistan. Sectarian violence became a recurring feature of the Muharram month every year, with sectarian violence between Sunnis and Shias taking place in 1986 in Parachinar. In one notorious incident, the 1988 Gilgit Massacre, Osama bin Laden-led Sunni tribals assaulted, massacred and raped Shia civilians in Gilgit after being inducted by the Pakistan Army to quell a Shia uprising in Gilgit.

Divisions within the Shia sect

Although the overwhelming majority of Pakistani Shia Muslims belong to Ithna 'ashariyah school, there are significant minorities of Nizari Ismailis (Aga Khanis) and the smaller Mustaali Dawoodi Bohra and Sulaimani Bohra branches.

References

Shia Islam in Pakistan Wikipedia