“Stranger, Enemy”

Abstract

This chapter examines the making of anti-Shia hostility, humiliation, and annihilatory politics in contemporary Pakistan. It argues that in order to make sense of the violence against the Shia in Pakistan, we need to go beyond the typical analysis, which is couched in the framework of Islam, religion, theological difference, and sectarianism. Instead, this chapter proposes that the social dimension of Shia minoritization in Pakistan is better understood through the concept of “sectism,” which theoretically draws upon the ways in which racism, casteism, and sexism have been understood as projects of majoritarian privilege and domination. Moreover, it argues that questions of sect and gender have become intrinsically linked in contemporary Muslim contexts, and hence must be understood relationally in order to examine the religio-political, hegemonic formations of military-militant Islam in Pakistan. Finally, the chapter offers broader reflections on the question of Islam, feminism, and democracy in Pakistan.