ISLAMABAD: A one page report compiled by law enforcement agencies reveals that from 1998 to 2013 only nine cases of deaths were categorised as sectarian killings in Islamabad.

However, over 10 cases have been reported in the past year alone. This hike is being linked by some officials to the bloodshed in Rawalpindi during the Ashura procession last year.

Related: Sectarian targeted killings grip Rawalpindi, Islamabad

However, there is no doubt that sectarian killings in Islamabad were very few and far between if the report is considered.

In fact, these 11 incidents include events such as the assassinations of then-governor, Salmaan Taseer and then-federal minister Shahbaz Bhatti, the attempt on the life of then-minister Hamid Kazmi and the murder of Maulana Mohammad Abdullah of Lal Masjid fame in 1999. If such crimes are removed from the list, the number drops to five.

However, post 2013 the incidents increase dramatically. The police investigation suggests that the actual target of the killers was the president of ASWJ Rawalpindi Mufti Tanveer Alam, as the victims were traveling in his car. He was not present in the car.

However, this latest spate of target killings did not begin after the Ashura Bloodbath, as officials suggest, although the frequency of the incidents has increased.

Earlier on August 23, 2013, Qari Mohammad Arif and Darvesh Khan were assassinated and Shakir Ullah was injured by gunmen at Jamia Madinatul Uloom located on Service Road adjacent to Expressway. They were Sunni.

The police described the attack as a sectarian killing as the seminary had been threatened a couple of days earlier. The administration of the seminary had informed the police officer of the area of the threats and asked for protection.

A senior officer told Dawn that there was a possibility that a militant outfit was behind the attack though the investigating officer said that the probe had made no breakthrough.

The officers claimed that the I-8 and Shakrial incidents were part of the cycle of sectarian killings and revenge that were taking place across the country, including Karachi and Lahore.

This is why, officers point out, the modus operandi of the killers has been the same, as has been witnessed earlier in Karachi or Islamabad.

However, he argues that sectarianism flourished once the focus of the state shifted to terrorism post 9/11. “Law enforcement agencies and other departments concerned also used the sectarian groups to counter those militants who were targeting the state; this allowed the former to conduct their activities without fear.“

It was against this background that the sectarian killings picked up steam across the country.

Published in Dawn, July 27th, 2014