Pakistani bus attack leave 43 dead; highlights regional sectarian divide

UPDATE: Islamic States claims responsibility for attack

Members of the jihadist Jundallah organization opened fire Wednesday morning on a bus carrying Ismaili Muslims in Karachi, Pakistan leaving 43 killed and 19 wounded. Jundallah spokesman, Ahmad Marwat warned that more attacks against the Ismaili community were imminent. Despite media reports claiming this attack was the first major attack against the Ismaili population, Jundallah, a radical Sunni group with links to the Taliban, al-Qaeda and the Islamic State, has been responsible for two major attacks on Ismaili Muslims in Pakistan in recent years. In 2002, Jundallah claimed responsibility for killing 18 Shia passangers on a bus, and in January 2015 the group bombed a Ismaili mosque killing at least 40 people. In 2014, the Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan announced a war on Ismaili Muslims, demanding all Sunnis to support the armed struggle. For the most part, the Ismaili population in Pakistan tends to keep a low profile and is known to be a peaceful community. They are well-known for their inclusive school systems, modeled after the British education system, which the Pakistani government has allowed to be adopted into national education program. The adoption of this system led to a coalition of about 22 Sunni organizations, known as the Front for the Defense of Islam, to launch an anti-Ismaili campaign.

Sunni groups have accused the Aga Khan Foundation of, “receiving money from the enemies of Islam,” and “brainwashing students to keep them away from Islam.” Additionally, sunni groups including Jamaat-e-Islami accuse the Ismailis and their Aga Khan Foundation of attempting to “secularize” Pakistan.   In the past six months, Ismaili community leaders have warned its members to be cautious because of looming security threats. According to the International Religious Freedom Report 2005, Pakistani Ismailis believed they were being targeted because of their educational and economic progress in the nation. Many Ismailis fear a fate similar to that of the Ahmadiyya community which has had thousands of members murdered.

Sectarian violence in Pakistan is not a new occurrence as the Sunni-Shi’ite conflict has lead to more than 4,000 deaths in Pakistan since the 1980’s. More specifically, according to a Middle East Institute report, 2,300 people have died in Pakistan’s four main provinces since 2007, highlighting an increase in sectarian violence in Pakistan. These connections make clear that the Sunni and Shia conflict extends across the larger Muslim world, even as open sectarian conflicts are notable in Iraq, Syria, and Yemen.