Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistan (SSP) is a Sunni Deobandi431 anti-Shia sectarian group432 founded in Punjab’s Jhang district in 1985.433 Following its official ban by the Pakistani government in 2002, SSP continued to act overtly under the name of Ahle Sunnat Wal Jamaat (ASWJ),434 its political party,435 while claiming militant acts using the name SSP and that of Lashkar-e-Jhangvi,436 its purportedly separate armed wing.437 According to an author specialising in counterterrorism interviewed by Canada’s Immigration and Refugee Board (IRB) in November 2024, SSP/ASWJ had a ‘clear organization[al] structure with central leadership, with assigned people who are responsible [for] media and finances’.438 The group had between 3 000 and 6 000 members mainly operating in Punjab, Karachi, and the former FATA, according to a late 2023 estimate presented by the CRS.439
- 431
International Crisis Group, A New Era of Sectarian Violence in Pakistan, 5 September 2022, url, p. i
- 432
ABP Live, ABP Exclusive: Terror Outfit Sipah-e-Sahaba Held Anti-Shia Event Just 1 Km From Islamabad Mosque During Blast, 7 February 2026, url
- 433
International Crisis Group, A New Era of Sectarian Violence in Pakistan, 5 September 2022, url, p. 2
- 434
ABP Live, ABP Exclusive: Terror Outfit Sipah-e-Sahaba Held Anti-Shia Event Just 1 Km From Islamabad Mosque During Blast, 7 February 2026, url
- 435
Canada, IRB, Pakistan: Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistan [Sipah-i-Sahaba Pakistan] (SSP) / Ahle Sunnat Wal Jamaat [Ahl-e-Sunnat-wal-Jamaat] (ASWJ) [Rah-e-Haq, Rah-i-Haq party (PRHP)], Lashkar-e-Jhangvi [Lashkar-i-Jhangvi, Army of Jhangvi] (LeJ), and Tehrik-i-Taliban [Tehrik-e Taliban Pakistan, Tehrik-e-Taliban, Pakistani Taliban, Tehreek-e-Taliban] (TTP) militant groups […] (2022–December 2024), 2 January 2025, url
- 436
ABP Live, ABP Exclusive: Terror Outfit Sipah-e-Sahaba Held Anti-Shia Event Just 1 Km From Islamabad Mosque During Blast, 7 February 2026, url
- 437
International Crisis Group, A New Era of Sectarian Violence in Pakistan, 5 September 2022, url, p. i
- 438
Canada, IRB, Pakistan: Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistan [Sipah-i-Sahaba Pakistan] (SSP) / Ahle Sunnat Wal Jamaat [Ahl-e-Sunnat-wal-Jamaat] (ASWJ) [Rah-e-Haq, Rah-i-Haq party (PRHP)], Lashkar-e-Jhangvi [Lashkar-i-Jhangvi, Army of Jhangvi] (LeJ), and Tehrik-i-Taliban [Tehrik-e Taliban Pakistan, Tehrik-e-Taliban, Pakistani Taliban, Tehreek-e-Taliban] (TTP) militant groups […] (2022–December 2024), 2 January 2025, url
- 439
US, CRS, Terrorist and Other Militant Groups in Pakistan, last updated 1 December 2023, url, p. 2