Successive Pakistani Governments have long shied away from directly confronting extremist sectarian violence, for fear that a Civil War will erupt; one that they are not at all sure they can win. If they don't take the bull by the horns though, they are going to continue to take the horns in the rear; or at least the people in the street will, until they themselves start the war. It's convenient for those watching this violence, and even for the perpetrators of the violence, to frame this conflict purely as a religious one. In fact, religion is no more an issue for those conducting these attacks than religion is an issue for the KKK. It's a convenient banner to wave, in an attempt to whitewash ones actions. The victims, and observers, all too often accept this banner as the root cause, because its easy to do so. In fact, violence is about power and control. It always has been, and it always will be. Catholic-Protestant violence in our history was also about power and control. No one kills another for the love of God (except maybe the Aztecs); be it the god imagined by the Jews, Christians, Muslims, or the Hindus. Religion is just a convenient mace with which to bludgeon our fellow man. Pakistan's artificially drawn borders take in a variety of peoples, religions, languages, cultures, and tribes. As do the borders of most of the region's modern nation-states. For those living outside the major urban areas, the cultures and lifestyles of these peoples have changed little over the past ten centuries. There has been little reason for them to do so. Most of these people continue to embrace a tribal identity, rather than a national one, and do not see themselves as "one-people." They see their tribe in continual competition, and conflict, with other tribes and groups. Only a common enemy will unite them. The Pakistani government doesn't want to be that common enemy; and so far has been content to simply mop up the blood after each attack.
