Shiite-Sunni conflict rises in Pakistan- CS Monitor

[applegrove]

Shiite-Sunni conflict rises in Pakistan
Attacks on Pakistan's Shiites echo rising sectarian strife in the Mideast.
By David Montero | Correspondent of The Christian Science Monitor

MULTAN, PAKISTAN - In this Punjabi city of shrines, Shiites and Sunnis prayed side by side during Ashura this week, the holiest holiday for the world's 150 million Shiite Muslims. But a province away, suicide bombers attempted to strike Shiite processions throughout Pakistan's Northwest Frontier Province, leaving as many as 21 dead and more than 40 injured in three separate incidents, including two suicide attacks.

The violence, the latest in a sharp uptick against Pakistan's Shiite minority, has heightened concerns that Iraq's conflict may be feeding sectarian violence here. Whether the conflict in Iraq is capable of igniting Pakistan's simmering sectarian tensions raises questions about a growing global sectarian war.

The answer is important, analysts say, because Pakistan's 30 million Shiites – numbering more than Iraq's – could become a flash point if sectarian violence spreads.

"In Pakistan, it is not a battle like in Iraq. But in Pakistan, you have the same violence ... driving the conflict," says Vali Nasr, author of The Shia Revivial, a study of global Sunni-Shiite conflicts. "We are going to see increasing occurrences of the bombings like we've seen over the weekend."

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http://www.csmonitor.com/2007/0202/p01s02-wosc.html