Information on an early 1996 Sipah-i-Sahaba Pakistan (SSP, also Sepah-e-Sehaba Pakistan)-organized anti-Shi'i demonstration outside a Lahore mosque could not be found among the sources consulted by the DIRB.

However, the following information may be of interest.

According to the US Office of Asylum Affairs (OAA), "where the Shiites have been the targets of Sunni violence, the perpetrators are nearly always members of one or two extremist Sunni organizations. One of these in particular, the Anjuman-E-Shipah-E-Sahaba (ASSP), has been credibly linked to bombings of Shiite mosques and gunfire directed at its opponents" (June 1996, 8).

Human Rights Watch World Report 1997, which covers events of 1996, states that "a surge in incidents of sectarian violence took place during the year, mostly tit-for-tat attacks by extremist Sunni and Shi'a groups in the Punjab and the North West Frontier Province (NWFP), that caused scores of casualties" (HRW 1996, 176). This information is corroborated by the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP)'s State of Human Rights in Pakistan in 1996, which states that

there was an upsurge of Shia-Sunni killings of all categories–targeted, by indiscriminate shooting, and from communal rioting. It included firing and bomb blasts in mosques and imambargash, and three small-scale massacres, in Karachi, Multan and Mailsi. A total of 350 persons were killed and 450 seriously wounded during the year (1996, 11).

For additional information on sectarian violence in Pakistan, please consult the HRCP attachment.

The 25 January 1996 Reuters attachment reports on several small bombings in Lahore, as well as several killings resulting from Sunni/Shi'i feuding.

This Response was prepared after researching publicly accessible information currently available to the DIRB within time constraints. This Response is not, and does not purport to be, conclusive as to the merit of any particular claim to refugee status or asylum. Please find below the list of additional sources consulted in researching this Information Request.

References

Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP). 1996. State of Human Rights in Pakistan in 1996. Lahore: Human Rights Commission of Pakistan.

Human Rights Watch (HRW). 1996. Human Rights Watch World Report 1997. New York: Human Rights Watch.

Office of Asylum Affairs (OAA), Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor. June 1996. Pakistan: Profile of Asylum Claims and Country Conditions. Washington, DC: Department of State.

Reuters. 25 January 1996. BC Cycle. Alistair Lyon. "Cricket–World Cup Hosts Brush Off Security Fears." (NEXIS)

Attachments

Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP). 1996. State of Human Rights in Pakistan in 1996. Lahore: Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, pp. 84-90.

Reuters. 25 January 1996. BC Cycle. Alistair Lyon. "Cricket-World Cup Hosts Brush Off Security Fears." (NEXIS)

Additional Sources Consulted

Amnesty International Report 1997. 1996.

Dawn Wire Service (DWS). Weekly. December 1995-April 1996.

DIRB Indexed Media Review [Ottawa]. Weekly. November 1995-April 1996.

_____. "Pakistan" country file. October 1995-April 1996.

_____. "Pakistan: Amnesty International" country file. January-August 1996.

Foreign Broadcast Information Service (FBIS) Daily Reports. (WNC)

On-line/database searches: NEXIS, SHARENet, World Wide Web (WWW).