The recent bombing (4th March) of a Shia Mosque in Kocha Risaldar, a largely Shia neighbourhood in the old city of Peshawar, capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, has once again brought to the fore the plight of minorities in Pakistan.
Over 60 persons were killed and another 200 injured in the blast, which has been claimed by the ISIS – Khorasan faction,based in Afghanistan.
The suicide bomber apparently detonated himself inside a mosque in Peshawar.
Although Pak interior Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed claimed that Khyber Pakhtunkhwa police and investigation agencies had identified suspects connected to the attack, they are yet to be arrested.
The impact of thebombing can be gauged by the fact that almost every house located in the vicinity of Imambargah and nearby streets found one or two members oftheir families either dead or wounded.
Reacting to the killing of innocent Shias, Ladakh Autonomous HillDevelopment Council (LAHOC), Kargil denounced the attack andrequested the Indian government and world community to exert pressure on the Pakistani government to bring the culprits to book.
In a similar vein, Shiite Iraq’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs condemned, ‘theterrorist attack on the Kocha Risaldar Mosque in Peshawar’ and expressed‘its condolences and sympathy to the victims families.’
The office of the Supreme Religious Authority in Iraq, Grand Ayatollah Sistani, and other Iraqi leaders also denounced the incident and urged the government of Pakistan to take measures to protect the Shia community.
Shia’s comprise nearly 20% of Pakistan’s population and are targets ofviolence by Sunni Islamist militant groups, including the Pakistani Talibanor Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan.
The Ahle Sunnat-Wal-Samaat and Tehreek-e-Labbik, Pakistan have also been at the forefront of an anti-Shiacampaign in the country.
Observers view that these militant groups have been emboldened by the Afghan Taliban seizing power in August 2021.
The people of Peshawar have been the biggest victims of recorded 47 suicide bombings in Pakistan since 2011 resulting in about 2,499 civilian deaths.
Incidentally, nearly 40% of all civilian causalities from suicide bombings in Pakistan have occurred in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, the provincein which the city Peshawar is located.