ABSTRACT
This chapter sketches out the contours of six actors who have played a critical role in fuelling sectarian strife in Pakistan. Founded with the blessings of the Zia regime, the Sipah-i-Sabah Pakistan proclaimed objectives are to fight the corrupting cultural influence of Shi’ism at all levels, having Pakistan declared a Sunni Muslim state and the Shias as infidels. Tehreek-i-Jafariya Pakistan has a considerable social base in Jhang. It’s proclaimed objectives centre on the protection of the social, political and religious rights of Shiites and the propagation of Shia ideas. The birth of organisations like the Sunni Tehreek highlights the intra-sectarian faultlines between the Deobandi Sunnis, backed by their Ahl-e-Hadith counterparts, and the Barelvis. Lashkar-i-Islami has clashed with the powerful gaddi nashin, who are descendants of Sufi saints. The restoration of civilian authority, and the strategy to defeat extremism announced in September 2008, has failed to curtail the spread of violence.
