Crossed by a conflict between Shiites and Sunnis since July, Pakistan has experienced a resurgence of violence since last week. The clashes are linked to tribal, religious and land disputes.
Interspersed with several truces, the conflict between Sunnis and Shiites has not stopped since July in Pakistan. The country has been experiencing new clashes since Thursday, November 21, often linked to land sharing. On Sunday, authorities counted 82 dead and 156 injured in three days.
In recent months, clashes have raged in Kourram, in the mountains bordering Afghanistan, in northwest Pakistan. Shiites say they have long been discriminated against and, across the country, Pakistanis accuse the police of failing to protect them.
This violence is rooted in tribal, religious and land disputes and local authorities say they are unable to cope, due to a lack of police or administrative personnel. Both federal and provincial governments struggle to enforce the law in the face of tribal honor codes.
For decades, Shiites and Sunnis alike have not hesitated to use heavy weapons with each new episode of violence. In recent days, hundreds of families have fled to other towns and, since July, the conflict has left more than 160 dead according to consistent sources.
On November 21, around ten attackers fired on two convoys carrying Shiite families under police escort. Over the next two days, Shiites carried out raids on Sunni neighborhoods in retaliation, burning hundreds of stores and homes.
The broken truce
Since this summer, hostilities have never known more than a few weeks of calm, despite truces decreed by tribal councils. The latest was announced on November 24 by the government of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province. The two camps agreed on a week's respite to “exchange prisoners and return the bodies.”
But, according to the leader of the Kourram district, Javed Ullah Mehsud, the truce was broken the next day with “clashes and gunfire […] reported in various places. According to a police source at AFP, the two camps are also holding “18 people hostage, including eight women”.
Faced with this explosive situation, the United States called on the various parties for calm on Monday, November 25. The spokesperson for American diplomacy, Matthew Miller, urged the belligerents “to demonstrate peacefully and to refrain from all violence”, while asking the Pakistani authorities “to respect human rights and fundamental freedoms”.
