31 killed: Why Islamabad is again a target — deadly resurgence of sectarian terror in Pakistan’s heart

Islamabad Police claims TTP link

No group has claimed responsibility for the blast so far, but police sources said that the attacker was a foreign national and had links with Fitna al Khwaraji, a term used for Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) — a group allied with the Taliban, operating primarily in the neighbouring Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province where border skirmishes with the Afghan group have surged in recent years.

The attack came less than three months after a suicide bomber killed 12 people in a blast outside a district and sessions court building in Islamabad. Earlier in the same month, another suicide blast reportedly carried out by the TTP had injured six people at a cadet college in South Waziristan of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

Shias in Pakistan

Shias, who are a minority in Pakistan, account for approximately 10–15 per cent of the Muslim population in the nation of 241 million, according to the think tank Minority Rights Group. The followers of this denomination have repeatedly been targeted ⁠in sectarian violence, including by the TTP and Islamic State in Pakistan – Sunni Islamist militant groups – which consider ⁠them heretics.

Tehrik-e Taliban Pakistan dominates

According to the United Nations Security Council, the Tehrik-e Taliban Pakistan (TTP), was formed in 2007 following Pakistan military operations against al Qaeda-affiliated militants in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (now integrated into Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province). Estimates suggest that the group has between 30,000 and 35,000 members.

The Tehrik-e Taliban Pakistan – a Sunni Islamist militant group – considers ⁠Shias heretics. (AP Photo)

Islamabad has repeatedly blamed Kabul for hosting elements of the banned group, whose members are mostly Pashtuns. In the most recent escalation, the two countries engaged in deadly border clashes last year that resulted in hundreds of deaths.

Since its inception, the relationship between Pakistan and Afghanistan has been marred by distrust and frequent episodes of violence, stemming from Kabul’s refusal to recognise the Durand Line as the international border.

Pakistan considers the line as the permanent international border. Owing to this disagreement, successive dispensations in Afghanistan – ranging from the monarchy and nationalists to the Taliban – have clashed with Islamabad in various fora. Notably, Afghanistan became the only country to oppose Pakistan’s entry into the UN.

Amid repeated disagreements and skirmishes, Islamabad dissolved the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa’s Tribal Agencies in 2018, integrating the regional units into the province. Pashtuns viewed the move as an insult to their way of life by the Punjabi-dominated Pakistan state and army. The Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan is considered kin by them. Currently, more than 20 million Pashtu-speaking people live in Pakistan.

Pakistan continues to consider Afghans ahsanfaramosh (ungrateful), after Islamabad hosted Pashtun refugees and seven Mujahideen groups during the Afghan Jihad against the Soviets.

Flaring tensions in Balochistan

The attack also comes in the backdrop of flaring tensions in Balochistan province, where coordinated attacks of the Baloch Liberation Army (BLA) and subsequent counter operations resulted in nearly 200 deaths last month.