Violence erupts at funerals of LeJ men

MULTAN:

Angry protests over the killing of Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LeJ) founder Malik Ishaq in a police encounter fuelled violence on Thursday as LeJ supporters gathered to bury Ishaq and other slain LeJ workers in their ancestral hometowns.

The LeJ leader and his activists were buried amid high tensions.

The members of the proscribed outfit were killed during a police encounter Wednesday morning,

The fiercest clashes were seen in the districts of Rahim Yar Khan and Muzaffargarh where Section 144 was imposed and paramilitary Rangers were called in for patrolling.

“Police personnel were pelted with stones in some areas in Rahim Yar Khan,” DPO Rahim Yar Khan Tariq Mastoyi told The Express Tribune. The LeJ supporters also scuffled with police, he added.

Security was tight in the two districts. Police had arrested at least 50 sympathisers of LeJ militants in Muzaffargarh who came with the relatives of the dead terrorists to receive their bodies and tried to disturb the peace in the district.

However, police sources told The Express Tribune that only five alleged activists of the Ahle Sunnat Wal Jamat (ASWJ) are in the police custody, who have been suspected to be involved in the terrorist activities and the rest of others have been released.

Eight out of 14 militants were buried in district Rahim Yar Khan, including LeJ founder Malik Ishaq and his two sons Malik Haq Nawaz and Malik Usman.

Three were laid to rest in Ali  Pur in Muzaffargarh district while one in Multan and two others in Bahawalnagar including Ghulam Rasool Shah, the deputy chief LeJ.

In Multan, chairman Markazi Azadari Imam Hussain Council Hasan Mashadi organised a walk in favour of Punjab police, lauding their efforts against terrorism.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 31^st, 2015.