Re: Lashkar e jhangvi
Page 279 of this book:
During Zia’s islamization drive the Iranians started backing shia groups, and to counter that Zia propped up sectarian groups. Another part in the sectarianism was the rapid urbanization of Punjab in the 80’s with a rising middle class, and the land owners especially in Jhang (like Abida Hussain, Faisal Saleh hayat etc) were shias. This is another reason I think why particularly this phenomena rose from Jhang.
Socio-political context of Jhang for RCSS Policy Studies 9
On the one hand, there is the presence of the traditional feudal families, who have historically commanded nearly complete control of political leadership of the district; on the other hand, there are the merging middle classes, which are mostly urban-based, comprising largely of migrant traders and artisans. These middle classes seek political recognition, but find themselves blocked by the wall of feudal dominance. Given that the feudal leadership is primarily Shia, while the majority of the population Sunni, and themajority of the emerging middle classes Deobandi or Ahl-i-Hadith Sunni, the latter have adopted the sectarian platform to confront Shia feudal power. In this context, although the overt battle lines are sectarian, the underlying cause of sectarianism is a class struggle.
Yes Lashkar e jhangvi and SSP both, and I have had some friends from Jhang and they are really against shias want to understand the reason for that.