This festering sore
DAWN editorial 2/25/01

THE crackdown on the Sipah-i-Sahaba Pakistan - including the arrest of its main leader, Maulana Azam Tariq - is ostensibly connected with the imminent hanging of one of its activists, Haq Nawaz, sentenced to death for the killing of the Iranian diplomat, Sadiq Ganji. Most of the SSP workers or leaders rounded up have been put in preventive detention, no doubt with a view to pre-empting any trouble or agitation after Haq Nawaz's hanging (which, all legal remedies having been exhausted, is now expected in the next few days). The crackdown as well as the sentencing of Haq Nawaz are vivid reminders of a problem which has plagued Pakistan in recent years - the problem of religious extremism and its most dangerous variant, sectarian terrorism.

The beginnings of this phenomenon are murky but it started rearing its ugly head in the eighties when General Zia-ul-Haq, in order to give some form of legitimacy to his government, had started giving currency to the expression "Islamization". That was also the period of the Afghan resistance against the Soviet occupation of their homeland - an enterprise which attracted guns and money from the West and money and volunteers from many Islamic countries. One of the splinter effects of these larger issues was the birth of religious extremism within Pakistan - with fringe groups emerging in the shadows committed to enforcing their particular versions of Islam through the use of violence and terrorism. Hundreds of lives have been lost at the altar of this phenomenon and although all governments have been of one mind in wanting to stamp it out, there are precious few signs to suggest that we are getting the better of this evil.

Part of the problem is that while some big names in the sectarian underworld have been caught, the most dangerous of them, especially the notorious Riaz Basra, continue to evade capture. It has been said that Basra - who heads Lashkar-i-Jhangvi - enjoys sanctuary in Afghanistan. How far this may be true is hard to say although reports have been published of the Pakistan government asking the Taliban authorities to help ferret out elements allegedly involved in sectarian crimes. So far nothing has come of these efforts as Basra and his leading henchmen, all of whom carry a price on their heads, continue to be on the run. That they are well organized and have considerable resources at their disposal is easily evidenced by the modus operandi of their crimes. They have been known to choose their targets carefully and to carry out their hits in a cool and professional manner. They have also proved masters of the clean getaway - which fact in itself suggests that they have safe houses and getaways into which they can easily disappear.

There is no doubt about it: sectarian terrorism, sunni or shia, is a threat to peace, sanity and public order in the country. For far too long gruesome crimes have been carried out in its name. The failure to crush this evil is a slur on the fair name of Pakistan. It is also a poor reflection on the prowess and skill of our intelligence agencies and the police forces of all four provinces. Whenever a sectarian hit occurs the impression is reinforced that lawlessness stalks the country. A more determined effort needs to be made to root out this evil.