Growing Jihad Sentiments in Pakistan

Ten Hazara Shias traveling through the Balochistan Province of Pakistan were identified as Hazara and pulled out of a bus by an unidentifiable gunman. The ten Hazara Shias were brutally murdered—execution style by the gunman. He is suspected to be affiliated with the Lashka e Taiba (LeT). Attacks on the Hazara have only increased with the 2011 death of Osama bin Laden. LeT continues to suspect that the Hazara of Abbottabad, bin Laden’s final hiding place, helped US intelligence in tracking down bin Laden. 

Hafiz Saeed, a high-ranking official of the LeT, expressed the LeT’s sentiments when he stated, “We do jihad”.

Meanwhile, the Pakistani Minister of Religious Affairs stated that the increasing tension between India and Pakistan is a “Holy War” against the Hindus. The Pakistani government and the terrorist groups based in Pakistan are engendering a growing sentiment of jihad or Holy War. Ironically, religious persecution continues as ongoing negotiations as Pakistan asserts the legitimacy over their claim of the Kashmir region, due to the substantive population of Muslims within the region.