The Perennial Playbook of Sectarian Strife in Pakistan
THE ACTORS: Who benefits from sectarian chaos? The immediate actors are often extremist groups like Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) or elements aligned with ISIS-K, operating within Pakistan's borders. However, these groups frequently receive tacit or explicit support, funding, and strategic direction from state or non-state actors vying for influence. Historically, elements within Pakistan's own
intelligence agencies have been accused of cultivating and weaponizing certain militant factions to serve strategic objectives, particularly against nationalist movements or rival states. Additionally, external powers, including Gulf states and Iran, have historically fueled sectarian divides through religious endowments, educational institutions, and media, transforming local grievances into
broader proxy conflicts. THE FUNDING: Tracing the financial lifelines of division The financing of sectarian groups is often obscured, but pathways include illicit grey-market funds, donations from sympathetic diaspora communities, and direct or indirect state sponsorship. For decades, intelligence agencies globally have been known to use 'black budgets' to fund allied resistance forces. In
Pakistan, the influx of Saudi and Iranian funds in the 1980s and 1990s, ostensibly for religious education and infrastructure, often exacerbated sectarian tensions, creating a fertile ground for radicalization. Reports from various think tanks and investigative journalists, such as the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace (2018), have detailed how millions of dollars have flowed into