“HORIZONTAL INEQUALITIS, SECTARIAN IDENTITIES, AND VIOLENT CONFLICT: THE CASE OF GILGIT BALTISTAN, PAKISTAN

Abstract

Violent extremism and sectarian conflicts in multi-ethnic and multi-religious societies have become daunting problems in most of the developing countries. There is a multifaceted structural conundrum particularly related to escalation of violent extremism and sectarian conflicts ranging from individual to group and from nation to the world. Guided by social identity theory, this study investigated group aspect of inequality in an effort to find correlation between horizontal inequalities and eruption of violent extremism. Case studies suggest that what instigates conflict is a concept which is closely linked to economic and social stratification and religious differences among groups. These ‘horizontal inequalities’, that confluence with identity-based cleavages create sense of perceived deprivation among competing groups which is, according to literature, foundation for violence in a polarized society. Horizontal inequalities on the one hand enhance grievances viz-a-viz different groups and on the other hand create cohesion among the relatively deprived segment of the society and thus provide impetus for violent conflicts. Among all the different catalysts of violent extremism, this study focuses in particular the aspect of religious differences, their relation with other horizontal inequalities, and resultant emergence of violent extremism. The aim of this study is to carryout quantitative test of the argument; stronger religious categorization coupled with prevailing socio-economic horizontal inequalities increase the probability of violent extremism between sectarian identities of Shias and Sunnis in Gilgit Baltistan. Survey carried out to collect data to ascertain the nexus between socio-economic horizontal inequalities and sectarian identities and subsequently the perception of ‘us’ vs ‘them’ which increase the probability of violent extremism in Gilgit-Baltistan. Results from cross sectional analyses of the data show that sectarian categorization and abetment from horizontal economic inequalities are positively related to the manifestation of violent conflict. However, variables for social inequalities were found to be insignificant.