ABSTRACT
Pakistan where Shiites make up approximately 15 to 20 per cent of the population – or a total of 25 to 30 million people – has the second largest Shiite community after Iran. Up to the 1970s there was relative sectarian harmony and considerable blurring of boundaries in terms of shared beliefs and religious rituals. The islamization policy of General Zia ul Haq (1977-1988) which increased Deobandi influence in Pakistan, and the Iranian revolution which emboldened the Shiites, contributed to the radicalization of religious identities and to sectarian violence which has claimed several thousand lives in the last two decades.
