Recent Upsurge in Sectarianism in Pakistan : Understanding the Sunni-Shia Divide as a Case-study of Inter-Group Rivalry and the Role of Ultra-Right Parties

There is a heightened concern in Pakistan over the rise of violent sectarianism, which has been pitting certain sections of denominational groups against each other, often assuming violent proportions. At the forefront of this renewed phase with a strong antiShia sentiment is the role of hate-spewing divisive elements, more specifically ultra-right elements that are exacerbating an exaggerated division between Sunni and Shia Muslims for their own political motives. If their momentum is sustained, then the risk is that they can further radicalize the mainstream and lodge one group against the other, putting them in a perpetual state of animosity, whereby Pakistani citizens may experience intense and implosive antagonism. This paper attempts to explain this emerging scenario in the light of theoretical frameworks of social and cognitive psychology underpinning inter-group dynamics and offers certain lessons from the erstwhile Hutu/Tutsi divide in the Rwandan Genocide of the 1990s.