On 21 November, a deadly attack targeted a convoy of Shia Muslims traveling from Parachinar to Peshawar in Pakistan’s Kurram district, a region with a long history of sectarian violence. The convoy, consisting of over 100 vehicles, was ambushed by Sunni extremists on the Tal Parachinar Road, a crucial lifeline for the Shia-majority area. Despite being under security escort, the convoy was attacked at multiple points with heavy gunfire, leaving 130 people dead, including women and children.
Survivors claimed that the attackers were Sunnis and some accounts said that announcements had been made from mosques in the area calling for the killing of Shias. The event highlights the growing sectarian violence between Sunni and Shia communities in Pakistan, especially in Kurram, a region historically marked by land disputes but increasingly shaped by extremist ideologies.
The hostility towards Shia Muslims extends beyond Kurram. Nationally, they face hate speech, discrimination, and systemic marginalisation. Even though the media often remains silent or underreports sectarian violence, this lack of coverage further dehumanises the victims, allowing violence to continue unchecked.
In this episode of State of Southasia Sana Batool, a journalist and researcher on the media and marginalisation of communities, explains how this conflict has evolved from local resource disputes to ideological battles, particularly during the Soviet-Afghan war in the 1980s, when sectarian violence intensified. She says that despite constitutional guarantees of religious freedom, the judiciary rarely prosecutes sectarian violence effectively, and state inaction has bred deep mistrust among Shia communities.
State of Southasia releases a new interview every two weeks.
This podcast is now available on Spotify, Apple podcasts and Youtube.
Episode notes
Further reading from Himal’s archives:
Brutal Parachinar attack exposes deepening hatred against Shia Muslims in Khyber Pakhtunkhwah
Fighting the erasure of anti-Shia violence in Pakistan
Pakistan’s futile ban on the PTM fails to stop a major consolidation of the Pashtun struggle
State of Southasia #12: Hurmat Ali Shah on Pashtuns and the Pakistani state
Pashto poetry’s journey from love to war and resistance
In Balochistan, Pakistan again tries to find a military solution to a political problem
The end of the myth that Kashmiris are free in Pakistan
Pashtuns will not be pawns in Pakistan’s dangerous game with the TTP and Taliban
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