Discriminating in death: ‘There were no Shia victims’

Activist of TNRM maintains all blast victims were Sunnis.

LAHORE: “No Shia was the victim of the blast. All those who were injured or killed were Sunnis who had come to participate in Data Sahib’s urs,” claimed an activist of the Tahaffuz Namoos-i-Risalat Mahaz (TNRM).

Naeem Javed Noori, who is also the secretary of Iqra School System, said this while addressing a rally that was held to protest the Tuesday terror attack.  During his address to some 200 participants he held the Punjab government, particularly Law Minister Rana Sanaullah, responsible for the blast. “We had told the government about the ‘weak’ security but they did not listen,” Noori alleged.

TNRM leader, Sahibzada Raza-e-Mustafa, threatened to “jam the entire country if the government did not ensure peace”.

He also maintained that all blast victims were Sunnis.  When contacted, Allama Waqarul Hasan Naqvi of the Tehreek-i-Jaafria said, “It is not the time to politicise the issue by talking about the religious sects of those who died. It doesn’t matter whether they were Shia or Sunni, they were Muslims. We should not discriminate in death!”

“Our not organising any Quran Khawani or Qul for the victims does not mean that they weren’t any Shia victims,” Naqvi added.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 27^th, 2011.