Footage and reports from the scene show leaders of Ahle Sunnat Wal Jamaat (ASWJ –widely understood as the rebranded form of the banned Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistan (SSP) – delivering hard-line speeches in the afternoon just before the blast. The event included rhetoric targeting Shia beliefs and identity. While the rally itself did not turn violent, its timing and message have intensified scrutiny of the sectarian undercurrents that afflict Pakistan.

Who Are ASWJ/SSP?

ASWJ traces its roots directly to Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistan, a Sunni extremist organization founded in the 1980s with an explicitly anti-Shia agenda. SSP was outlawed in 2002, but has continually resurfaced under new names, including ASWJ, allowing its activists and leaders to operate in public political and religious spaces.

Human rights reports and country analyses also document widespread incitement of hatred and violence against Shia Muslims by extremist clerics and groups in Pakistan, with rhetoric tolerated across many regions even when overt violence declines.

A history of anti-Shia violence

Shia Muslims – a minority in predominantly Sunni Pakistan – have been recurrent targets of sectarian violence over decades. Studies and historical records show thousands of Shias killed in militant attacks by groups that include violent offshoots of Sipah-e-Sahaba, Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), and Islamic State affiliates. These groups have on several occasions vowed to “rid Pakistan of Shias.”

Notable historical instances include the 1963 Therhi massacre in Sindh, where more than a hundred Shias were killed in a sectarian attack, and the 1988 Gilgit massacre, in which estimates place Shia fatalities in the hundreds amid targeted violence. Mass bombings in Quetta’s Shia-dominated neighborhoods and targeted killings also claimed hundreds of lives from 2010-2013.

More recently, a mass shooting ambush on a convoy of Shia travellers in Kurram District in late 2024 killed at least 54 people — one of the deadliest sectarian assaults in years.

These attacks are part of a long pattern of sectarian militancy in Pakistan, where extremist groups have periodically targeted Shias during worship, pilgrimage or travel.

Pakistan blames the “foreign hand”

In the aftermath of Friday’s Islamabad blast, Pakistani authorities have placed strong emphasis on foreign involvement in the attack.

Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi said investigators had identified suspects with links to militants in Afghanistan and alleged support from foreign actors, including India – claims that Indian officials have called “baseless and pointless.”

The Islamic State’s Pakistan affiliate has also claimed responsibility for the bombing, underscoring the role of transnational extremist networks in attacking Shia targets.

However, critics argue that focusing on external blame may obscure the deep-rooted history of sectarian hatred and organized anti-Shia activity inside Pakistan, including groups like ASWJ/SSP whose rhetoric and mobilisation have helped normalise social hostility toward religious minorities.

Civil society advocates warn that without confronting these internal dynamics – including public hate speech and the continued operation of sectarian networks – Pakistan’s recurring cycles of violence against Shias will persist alongside any foreign threats.

Fariha Ijaz

The writer is an Assistant Editor at Dissent Today, focusing on extremism and political violence.

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The protest rally was organised at the Karachi Press Club, according to a press release.

Khalid Rao from Civil Progressive Alliance Pakistan, Noreen from Women Democratic Front, Professor Owais, Hasan Sagheer, Syed Ali Haider Zaidi, and a student Haroon Saleem, spoke at the occasion.

During the protest, members of the civil society expressed solidarity with the relatives of the teachers, while urging the law enforcers to fulfill their responsibility by arresting the terrorists responsible for the “barbaric act and put them behind bars”.

The organisers maintained that sectarian attacks are detrimental to the entire country and added that law enforcement agencies need to ensure the security of all segments of the society so the country can progress.

On May 4, seven Shia teachers were shot dead by unknown attackers at a school in the Kurram district of KP, with the regional commissioner terming the killings sectarian in nature.

The teachers include: Syed Hussain, Liaquat Hussain, Syed Ali Shah, Mehdi Hussain, Mohammad Ali, Ali Hussain and another invigilator, Express Tribune reported.

Contradictory accounts were being given for the motive behind the killings. The provincial Chief Minister’s Office cited the land dispute to be the cause, but the regional commissioner said it could be sectarian killings.

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In a separate incident in the Upper Kurram area,  resident Mohammad Sharif was killed.

Seven Shia school teachers were killed when gunmen opened fire at the Government High School of Teri Mangal area.

The teachers include: Syed Hussain, Liaquat Hussain, Syed Ali Shah, Mehdi Hussain, Mohammad Ali, Ali Hussain and another invigilator, Express Tribune reported.

Contradictory accounts were being given for the motive behind the killings. The provincial Chief Minister’s Office cited the land dispute to be the cause, but the regional commissioner said it could be sectarian killings.

A Canada-based think tank, International Crisis Group (ICG) had reported that 4,847 Shias were killed in incidents of sectarian violence between 2001 and 2018.

In 2022, a suicide bombing inside a Shia mosque in Peshawar killed at least 56 people and injured 194 others, according to hospital officials. The bombing took place as worshippers gathered for Friday prayers at the Kucha Risaldar mosque in Peshawar’s old city.

In 2017,  a bomb targeting a Shia mosque in Parachinar killed 22 people and injured nearly 70 others on Friday in an attack claimed by a Taliban faction.

Pakistan has witnessed a resurgence of terrorism with the outlawed Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) targeting Khyber Pakhtunkhwa particularly.

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