This article needs to be updated.(February 2011) |
2007 Kurram Agency conflict | ||||||||
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Part of the War in North-West Pakistan and Sectarian violence in Pakistan | ||||||||
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Belligerents | ||||||||
Local law enforcement | Local Sunni fighters Pakistani TalibanSipah-e-Sahaba Pakistan Lashkar-e-Jhangvi | Local Shia fighters |
The 2007 Kurram Agency conflict began on 6 April 2007 in Kurram Agency, Federally Administered Tribal Areas, Pakistan when a Sunni gunman on a Friday prayer held by Shia in Parachinar. It left more than 40 people dead and more than 150 people wounded . [2] [3] Tension had been brewing in the area adjacent to the Afghan border since April 1 when the sectarian group Ahl-e-Sunnat Wal Jamaat taking part in Mawlid (prophet Muhammad's birthday) when some of Sunni people having guns shot the Shia people.
During a Sunni procession celebrating the birth of the Prophet Muhammad in Parachinar on 1 April, a few men made derogatory remarks towards historical Shia figures. [4] [5] [6] In response, Shias in Parachinar held a protest on 6 April where they responded with counter-slogans against Sunnis. [5] During the procession, an unidentified gunman opened fire on the crowd. [2] Riots then consumed the city, with raiding and looting of local Sunni storefronts being reported. [2] FATA authorities imposed a curfew across Kurram agency and sent soldiers into Parachinar after at least three people were reported to killed and 18 injured by the end of the day. [7] [6]
Early in the day, Bell AH-1 Cobra helicopters attacked the positions of sectarian fighters in Parachinar before army and paramilitary forces in armoured personnel carriers secured the city. [8] [9] The sectarian groups were reportedly using heavy weaponry such as mortars and rocket-propelled grenades. [10] A rocket attack on a home in Parachinar killed 14 people, including two women and four children. [2] [11] The government announced that anyone seen violating the curfew would be shot at by authorities. [2] According to a FATA official, 40 people had been killed and 70 were wounded during the two day of fighting. [12]
Violence between sectarian fighters cooled down in Parachinar but intensified across Upper and Lower Kurram as tribal elders attempted to resolve the situation. [10] [13] Clashes in Piwar and Kirman left four and three people dead in the villages respectively, while mortar fire on a house in Alam Sher killed one person. [14] Fighting in Sadda killed six people and led to electricity being disabled in the town. [14] Additional clashes were reported in Teri Mangal, Balish Khel, Bashra, Mali Khel, Kadman and Para Chamkani among other areas. [13] PTI chairman Imran Khan suggested that the conflict could be manufactured by the United States in order to harm Pakistan's relations with Iran. [15]
The government issued an ultimatum to cease all hostilities by 10 April or else an army offensive would be launched against the tribal fighters. [16] Mortar fire hit a government building in Alizai, killing a security officer and injuring multiple others. [17] [18] A mortar shell struck a house in Sadda, killing two children and injuring four. [19] Twelve people from Sadda were brought to a hospital in Peshawar, two of them dying in treatment. [19]
Clashes between fighters in Sadda and Balash Khel killed around 20 people according to locals. [20] Electricity in Kurram was completely cut following an attack on the main transmission line in Alizai. [21] The army fired artillery from their base in Parachinar across various areas in Kurram. [21] Army reinforcements also entered Parachinar and Alizar. [22] [16]
Militants allegedly from North Waziristan attacked the villages of Jilamai and Chardewal, killing 15 people altogether. Authorities responding to the villages reportedly opened fire on rioters, killing at least 35. [23] Four people were killed in Shalozan Tangi, while a rocket attack in Shoblan killed a woman and injured two children in a house. [23] A rocket hit a house in Almsher village killing a woman. [23] Army soldiers entered Sadda, leading a gunfight which left four sectarian fighters dead and another four injured. [24] [25] After securing the city, local authorities announced the establishment of a ceasefire in the city. [25] A reduction in hostilities around the outskirts of Parachinar was reported. [24]
Five Shia's were reportedly killed by gunmen in Chardewar, with another five suffering injuries. [20] [26] Clashes with bandits in Jilamai killed four people. [27] A Peace Jirga delegation of twenty Sunni and twenty Shia scholars and tribal elders arrived at Parachinar after travelling from Hangu the previous day. [24] [26] A ceasefire across Kurram agency was later declared. [28]
The curfew in Parachinar was loosened for two hours from 3:00 PM to 5:00 PM. The Peace Jirga was in the process of negotiating a settlement and written agreement with the two factions. [29]
On 4 August, a suicide bomber rammed an explosive-laden vehicle into a bus station in Parachinar, killing 10 people and injuring 35 others. [30]
Clashes broke out in Parachinar after armed gunmen opened fire inside a Sunni mosque on 16 November, killing at least 10 people. [31] [32] The attack triggered a renewed conflict between Sunni and Shia fighters in Kurram, with 30 people being killed and over 100 being injured by the end of 17 November. [31] By 18 November, at least 61 people had been killed, with the government imposing a curfew upon the city once again. [33] On 19 November, Pakistani soldiers with attack helicopter support moved into the city, forcing the sectarian fighters to retreat from their positions. By the end of the day, the number of casualties from the conflict had risen to at least 80, 11 of them being Pakistani soldiers. [34] [35]
Parachinar is a city and the capital of the Kurram District in the province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan.
Alizai is a town in the Lower Kurram Valley in the Kurram District of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan. Alizai is located near the Durand Line border with Afghanistan, about 50 kilometres (31 mi) northeast of Khost, Afghanistan.
The Turi or Torai are a Pashtun tribe residing primarily in the Kurram Valley, of Pakistan's Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, with a smaller population across the Durand line in Afghanistan's Paktia province. They speak Pashto and follow the Twelver Shia sect of Islam. Unlike most Pashtun tribes, who are predominantly Sunni, the Turi's adherence to Shia Islam has historically contributed to tensions with neighbouring Sunni Pashtun tribes, such as the Mangal and Bangash, who also inhabit the Kurram Valley. These tensions are further complicated by land disputes and historical factors.
Kurram District is a district in the Kohat Division of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan. The name Kurram comes from the river Kwarma in Pashto, which itself derives from the Sanskrit word Krumu.
Sectarian violence in Pakistan refers to violence directed against people and places in Pakistan motivated by antagonism toward the target's religious sect. As many as 4,000 Shia are estimated to have been killed in sectarian attacks in Pakistan between 1987 and 2007, and thousands more Shia have been killed by Salafi extremists from 2008 to 2014, according to Human Rights Watch (HRW). Sunni Sufis and Barelvis have also suffered from some sectarian violence, with attacks on religious shrines killing hundreds of worshippers, and some Deobandi leaders assassinated. Pakistan minority religious groups, including Hindus, Ahmadis, and Christians, have "faced unprecedented insecurity and persecution" in at least two recent years, according to Human Rights Watch. One significant aspect of the attacks in Pakistan is that militants often target their victims places of worship during prayers or religious services in order to maximize fatalities and to "emphasize the religious dimensions of their attack".
Qazi Nisar Ahmed is a Deobandi Muslim cleric and chief of the Tanzeem Ahle Sunnah wal Jamaat in Gilgit-Baltistan, Pakistan. He went into hiding on 15 October 2005, when the government sealed two mosques in response to sectarian clashes between Sunnis and Shias, and ordered the arrests of seven top clerics of both sects, including Qazi Nisar.He can be saw in many videos trying to get empathy by sectarian and extremist outlawed parties like LEJ and TTP to spread sectarian violence across the country threatening Government, its law and order by showing his large number of supporters outside Gilgit Baltistan. He was reported to be living outside of Pakistan. Northern Areas had requested that Interpol arrest him; however, he instead returned of his own free will on the evening of 10 March 2006 and surrendered to Gilgit police, who flew him to Islamabad.
Syed Arif Hussain Al Hussaini was an Twelver Shīʿā Muslim scholar, Islamist ideologue, Islamic Jurist, and Islamic Revolutionist Political leader of Shia Muslims in Pakistan. He is also known as Khomanei-e-Pakistan for his activities which earned him the reputation of being one of the most prominent advocates for the Shia population of Pakistan and Islamic revival of Ja'fari school of Islamic jurisprudence in the country. He viewed the ideas of secularism, liberalism and communism as evil, which he understood to be the influence of Western and Soviet imperialism. He was assassinated in 1988 at aged 41.
In the Parachinar bombing of 16 February 2008, a suicide bomber in Parachinar, Pakistan killed 70 people and injured 110 attending a political rally for the opposition Pakistan Peoples Party. The attack occurred on the eve of the 2008 Pakistani general election to be held on 18 February when an explosives-laden car was rammed into the election office of an independent candidate in Parachinar. The attack targeted people in a rally outside Riaz Shah's campaign office.
Sadda is a city in Kurram District in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan. Located on the Kurram River, it is a big trade market for the people of Lower Kurram and Central Kurram. The main tribe living in Sadda is the Bangash. Sadda is located about 50 kilometres (31 mi) southeast of Parachinar. The nearest main city on the Afghan side of the border is Khost, which is located about 70 kilometres (43 mi) to the southwest of Sadda.
2010 Kurram agency mass kidnapping happened on May 15, 2010, in Kurram Agency in Federally Administered Tribal Areas of Pakistan. 60 people including women and children were kidnapped by militants dressed in police uniforms.
On 28 February 2012, approximately 12 militants who were dressed in military uniforms stopped multiple buses on their routes through the Kohistan District in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan. 18 passengers were subsequently taken out of the buses and executed by the militants; 17 of the 18 victims were identified as Shia Muslim residents of Gilgit–Baltistan who were travelling to the city of Gilgit from Rawalpindi, Punjab, while the remaining non-Shia victim was a Sunni Muslim who failed to convince the militants that he was not Shia. The victims were killed on the basis of their religious affiliation with the Shia sect of Islam after identification. Among the dead in the massacre were three children.
Anti-Shi'ism or Shiaphobia is hatred of, prejudice against, discrimination against, persecution of, and violence against Shia Muslims because of their religious beliefs, traditions, and cultural heritage. The term was first used by Shia Rights Watch in 2011, but it has been used in informal research and written in scholarly articles for decades.
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The 1988 Gilgit massacre was the state-sponsored mass killing of Shia civilians in the Gilgit District of Pakistan who revolted against military dictator Zia-ul-Haq's Sunni Islamist regime, responsible for vehement persecution of religious minorities as part of its Islamization program.
A bombing occurred on 23 December 2015 at a clothes bazaar in Pakistan's Parachinar area in the Kurram Valley. It was not clear whether the bombing was a suicide attack or a remotely controlled detonation. The blast killed 25 people and another 62 were injured.
The Followers of Zainab Brigade, also known as the Zainebiyoun Brigade or Zainebiyoun Division, is a Pakistani Shia Khomeinist militant group actively engaged in the Syrian Civil War. It draws recruits mainly from Shia Pakistanis living in Iran, with some also Shia Muslim communities living in various regions of Pakistan.
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On 4 May 2023, a school shooting took place at a high school in Parachinar, Kurram District, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan, killing seven people and wounding three police officers. Earlier in the day, a teacher from the same school was shot dead in a separate attack.
The 2023 Kurram Parachinar conflict started as a land dispute and turned into a series of sectarian clashes that took place in the Kurram District of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan near Pak-Afghan Border, from May to July 2023.
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