Twenty-four people are dead and Pakistan's military has been deployed to Gilgit-Baltistan following violent clashes between pro-Iran demonstrators and security forces across the country. The protests erupted after joint US-Israeli strikes killed Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

A billion people aren't a statistic - they're a billion stories. For Pakistan's 40-45 million Shia Muslims, Sunday became a day of impossible choices.

In Gilgit-Baltistan, Pakistan's northernmost region with a Shia majority, the death toll was catastrophic. Seven protesters died in Gilgit city, six in Skardu. One security officer was also killed. Karachi, the southern port city home to millions of Shia, saw ten deaths and more than sixty injuries during protests outside the US consulate. Two more protesters were killed in Islamabad while heading toward the US embassy.

Before dawn Monday, the federal government imposed a three-day curfew across Gilgit, Skardu, and Shigar districts. Police Chief Akbar Nasir Khan urged residents to remain indoors, citing "deteriorating law and order conditions."

Thousands of demonstrators attacked United Nations facilities, vandalized offices of the UN Military Observer Group in India and Pakistan, and damaged the UN Development Programme office in Skardu. In Gilgit, protesters burned a police station. Schools and charity offices were damaged.

According to Al Jazeera, UN Spokesman Stephane Dujarric confirmed protesters became violent near UN facilities. US diplomatic missions heightened security across Pakistan, cancelling visa appointments and American Citizen Services on Monday.

This is Pakistan's nightmare scenario: a nation built on alliance with Washington, home to tens of millions who view Iran as a spiritual and political champion. The US provides billions in military aid. Pakistan hosts American drone operations. Yet in Gilgit-Baltistan, Iranian flags flew higher than Pakistani ones on Sunday.

"We stand with the martyrs of Iran," protesters chanted, even as security forces opened fire.

Pakistan's government faces an impossible balancing act. Condemn Iran and alienate 40-45 million citizens. Support Iran and lose American aid, military cooperation, and economic lifelines. So they deployed troops and imposed curfew - a response that satisfies no one and solves nothing.

Mobile and internet services were shut down in affected areas, a familiar tactic in Pakistan when protests threaten to spread. But the anger won't disappear with connectivity.

For Fatima Hussain, a 32-year-old teacher in Karachi whose brother was among the injured, the violence reflects deeper fractures. "They tell us we're Pakistanis first, but when our community is attacked, when Iran is attacked, they expect us to stay silent," she told Reuters.

Pakistan's sectarian fault lines, long managed through careful diplomacy and strategic silence, are now exposed. The country cannot satisfy both its American patron and its Shia population. It cannot balance geopolitical pragmatism with domestic religious sentiment.

And the death toll - 24 so far - may be just the beginning. The three-day curfew ends Thursday. The anger won't.