Sectarian violence in northwest Pakistan kills at least 37

PESHAWAR: At least 37 people have died and over 150 been injured in sectarian violence in northwestern Pakistan that entered a sixth day on Friday, said a local official.

Kurram district, once an autonomous region, has a long history of violent clashes between Sunni and Shiite tribesmen that have left hundreds dead over the years. The latest clashes in July between them over a land dispute saw 35 people killed and took a jirga (a tribal council) to hammer out a cease-fire. Officials are trying to work out a fresh truce.

Despite some mediation efforts by security forces and local leaders, fierce fighting involving heavy weaponry has continued unabated in ten parts of the district. According to Kurram’s anonymous official, this escalation: “What started as a land dispute has now turned into a full-fledged sectarian clash with automatic and semi-automatic weapons, mortar shells, and all else.”.

There are reportedly 28 damaged houses and a sizeable number of fatalities, along with other causalities amidst the ongoing violence. Tribal and family feuds are common in Pakistan, but in the mountainous northwestern region of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, these feuds tend to be particularly prolonged and violent, based on traditional tribal honor codes in many communities.

The Shiite community, which is a minority in this very Sunni Muslim country, has been subjected to serious discrimination and violence for a long time.