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128 CHAPTER 5TABLE 2Sectarian Riots in the Punjab 1989-94, 1997–98Year Incidents Persons Injured Persons Killed1989 67 102 101990 274 528 321991 180 263 471992 136 240 441993 90 247 381994 115 249 371997 97 175 2001998 36 80 78Sources: The Nation, September 1, 1994; Dawn, January 1, 1998;Dawn, December 28, 1998.Note: The figures for 1994 include incidents up to but not later thanAugust 17, 1994. Note that these are official and thus probably ratherconservative estimates; the actual number of casualties may have beenmuch higher.Sipah-i Sahaba to enter parliament. (Haqq Nawaz Jhangawi had contestedelections to the National Assembly in 1988, but had lost to one ofthe most influential landlords of the area.) 92 It was not long, however,before sectarian tensions took their toll, as they had for many other leadersof radical sectarianism, and in January 1991, Isar al-Qasimi was assassinatedin Jhang. 93As is typical of radical religious movements, the fact that the leadersfrequently fall victim to violence does nothing to dampen either the zeal oftheir followers or the attractions of the resort to violence. For the Sipah-iSahaba, as indeed for the Shi‘i organizations, violence from sectarian opponentsonly reinforces their perception of threat from the “other,” andhence their raison d’être of “safeguarding,” often through violent retaliation,their sectarian kin from that threat (see table 2). Like mosques, madrasas,print, a shared social background, and common economic interests,religiously sanctioned violence and growing lists of martyrs 94 alsocontribute to the sense of community. Such sacrifices of blood seldom failto reinforce and sanctify the shared sectarian identity or to give it anadded, unrelenting dynamic.Sectarian violence has clearly exacted a heavy toll in the Punjab, but,as table 3 illustrates, it is not limited to this province. Though it is in thePunjab that the principal sectarian organizations (the Sipah-i Sahaba, theTahrik-i Ja‘fariyya, and the Sipah-i Muhammad and their splinter groups)are based, their activities also extend to other parts of the country. 95 In acomparative study of incidents of ethnic conflict in contemporary SouthAsia, anthropologist Stanley Tambiah identifies “focalization” and