Dawn.com: by Irfan Hussain: A FEW months ago, somebody emailed me a chilling audio clip of a conversation between a journalist and a Pakistani Taliban.
When the interviewer reminded the terrorist that he was a Muslim too, and recited the kalima to prove it, he was told bluntly that the Taliban did not view anybody who did not subscribe to their extreme vision as believers.
When the Taliban was reminded that the founder of Pakistan was a peaceful, tolerant man, he replied that Jinnah had ‘Ali’ in his name, and so must be a Shia. “We do not accept the Shia as Muslims,” he insisted.
From considering the Shia to be non-Muslims, it seems there is only a short step to declaring them wajib-ul-qatal, or deserving of death, preferably by violent means.
Indeed, this extreme view has been around for three decades in Pakistan. The emergence of the Sipah-i-Sahaba Pakistan in the 1980s and later the Lashkar-i-Jhangvi (LJ) saw the beginnings of sectarian bloodshed.
Of course, Shia-Sunni strife is nothing new in Muslim history. From virtually the earliest period of Islam, conflicting claims over the Caliphate have led to the bitter divide that persists to this day. Many of the current conflicts within the Islamic world have their roots in this ancient schism.
Most of Sunni / Shiah disturbances are political rather than religious. In Iraq for instance it is a question of power and not religious doctrine. The same can be said about the Saudi / Iran rivalry.