At least three more people were killed and another 25 wounded today in Karachi after the funerals for the victims of yesterday’s bombings sparked violence in the streets. Funeral goers torched eight buses, while gunmen attacked members of the procession elsewhere in the city.
This is just business as usual in Pakistan, where major attacks on the nation’s Shi’ite minority are happening every couple of weeks, and the government, beyond taking formal notice of the attacks happening, seems unable, or unwilling to do anything to prevent them.
Sectarian tension is almost a permanent part of Pakistan’s political landscape, and with the anti-Shi’ite militants drawing from the same class as Kashmir militants, which enjoy broad popular support, the ruling parties in several regions have long since given up on doing much about them.
A top member of the Muttahida Quami Movement (MQM), one of the major parties in Karachi, suggests there probably won’t be big differences in Karachi after the attacks, instead urging Shi’ites to set up their own private neighborhood patrols and deal with attacks from militants themselves.