Deadly unrest spread across Pakistan on Sunday as protests against US and Israeli strikes on Iran turned violent near American diplomatic sites. Authorities said at least 22 people were killed in clashes linked to the demonstrations, the New York Times reports. Ten people died and dozens were injured in Karachi when protesters tried to overrun the US Consulate, according to a police surgeon at the city's main government hospital.
Two people were reported dead in Islamabad near the US Embassy, and 10 more in the northern Gilgit-Baltistan region, officials said. Demonstrators attacked UN and government offices in the north, per the AP, which reported that 120 people had been injured overall. Demonstrators, many from Pakistan's sizable Shiite minority, described the strikes on Iran as an attack on their religious identity, per the Times. "When Iran is attacked, we feel our faith, our identity and our very existence are being targeted," said Asghar Jaffer, a Shiite student activist in Karachi.
"Following the martyrdom of Ayatollah Khamenei, every citizen of Pakistan shares in the grief of the people of Iran," said Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi in a statement. The events mark the most serious strain in US-Pakistan relations since the 2011 American raid that killed Osama bin Laden in Abbottabad, said Adam Weinstein of the Quincy Institute in Washington. "Pakistan's military can suppress the protests, but the political cost of bear hugging President Trump is rising fast," he said.
The situation carries regional risks, per the Times. Pakistan, which borders Iran and counts 15% to 20% of its 240 million people as Shiite, has long tried to balance ties with Iran, Saudi Arabia, and the US. Islamabad condemned "unwarranted attacks" on Iran without naming the US or Israel and also criticized Tehran's retaliatory strikes on Persian Gulf states. Officials in both Pakistan and Afghanistan warned that further instability in Iran could disrupt cross-border trade, fuel militant activity along the Iran-Pakistan frontier, and threaten billions in remittances from Gulf and Iran-based workers that support families and economies across the region.
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