Integrity Score 240
No Records Found
No Records Found
Chapter 3 continues…
Zia put a Special Service Group (SSG) group commanded by then Brigadier Pervez Musharraf to suppress the revolt and Musharraf responded by transporting a large number of Wahabi Pakhtoon tribesmen from the NWFP and Afghanistan to Gilgit to teach the Shias a lesson. These tribesmen massacred hundreds of Shias.
Musharraf also initiated a policy of bringing in Punjabis and Pakhtoons from outside and settling them in Gilgit and Baltistan in order to reduce the Kashmiri Shias to a minority in their traditional land and the process continues to this date. The rapid settling of Punjabis and Pakhtoons from outside has created a sense of acute insecurity among the local Shias. It is widely believed in Pakistan that a Shia airman from Gilgit, wanting to take revenge for the May 1988 carnage, was responsible for the air crash that killed General Zia.
After 1988, sectarian riots became a regular feature of Northern Areas. The pattern showed that whenever the populace in Northern Areas demanded their constitutional rights, there were riots. On Zia’s death anniversary on 17 August 1993, there were massive riots and over 20 persons were killed before the situation was brought under control by the Army. Army had accused that Shias had amassed weapons in mosques, which included M-46 bombs, brought from Iran.
This followed persecution of Shias and a large number of Shias were arrested. Since 1988, the latent sectarianism coupled with lack of representation has aggravated the sense of alienation in the populace of Northern Areas and have led to the creation of ultra-nationalist political groupings like Balwaristan National Front. During 2003- 04, Shias objected to certain portions of the school course curriculum, particularly the contents of Islamiyat and Urdu textbooks and the popular discontentment was so high that the authorities were forced to accept the Shia viewpoint after the violent riots in June 2004.
To be continued…