Oddly enough, Sunni Misunderstanders of Islam were universally the culprit. For that, the learned analysts who assure us that Islam is a Religion of Peace that has been hijacked by a Tiny Minority of Extremists have no explanation.
“More than 320 Shias killed in Pakistan this year in wave of sectarian attacks,” by Rob Crilly in the Telegraph, September 6 (thanks to Lachlan):
PAKISTAN”S government must do more to protect its minority Shia population, according to human rights campaigners, in a year which has already seen more than 320 killed in a wave of targeted attacks.
Human Rights Watch accuses security forces of at best turning a blind eye to sectarian atrocities carried out by Sunni militant groups — and at worst of viewing the extremists as allies.
“Deadly attacks on Shia communities across Pakistan are escalating,” said Brad Adams, Asia director of the watchdog. “The government’s persistent failure to apprehend attackers or prosecute the extremist groups organizing the attacks suggests that it is indifferent to this carnage.”
The plight of Pakistan’s minorities is already in the global spotlight. Rimsha Masih, a Christian girl, has been detained for three weeks after being accused of blasphemy in a case that has attracted international condemnation.
The restive region of Baluchistan has been badly affected by sectarian violence, with more than 100 members of the Shia Hazara community being killed in 2012.
In the most recent violence, gunmen shot dead eight Hazara in two attacks at the start of the month in Quetta, the provincial capital.
It followed a chilling incident two weeks earlier when gunmen ambushed four buses. They made the travellers disembark before calmly inspecting identity cards and executing 22 people they believed to be Shia.
That attack was later claimed by the Pakistan Taliban, an al-Qaeda linked umbrella grouping of extremist movements.
At the end of last month, police in Lahore detained Malik Ishaq, the head of Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, a group accused of dozens of sectarian attacks. He was released from detention last year after several cases against him apparently collapsed….