Pakistan Powerless in Face of Shiite Attacks

Yet another attack on Pakistan’s minority Shiite sect – this time in Karachi on Sunday night, killing at least 45 people – further exposes the failure of the government to rein in a growing wave of sectarian violence.

Sunni militants killed more than 400 Shiites in targeted attacks in Pakistan in 2012 – the largest annual total – according to Human Rights Watch. An attack on a billiard hall in southwest Baluchistan province in January killed over 90 Shiites. Five weeks later a blast in a Shiite-dominated area of Quetta killed a further 84 people.

In response, Pakistan has put Baluchistan under direct government control in an attempt to curtail the action of the al-Qaeda linked militant groups that have operated freely there. The government also has clamped down on Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, the militant group that claimed responsibility for January’s attack and is widely believed to be behind the latest bomb attacks on Abbas Town, a Karachi suburb.

Police arrested Malik Ishaq, the co-founder of Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, who was released from prison in 2011 after a decade in jail on charges of murder of hundreds of people, including many Shiites. Mr. Ishaq, who denies, wrongdoing had continued prior to his latest detention to make speeches inciting violence against Shiites.

But analysts say Mr. Ishaq’s arrest was an attempt by security forces to stop Shiites from planning a retaliatory attacks against him, an act...

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