Up in arms: Protest continues over sectarian killing in DI Khan

Speakers urge govt to compensate affected families

DI KHAN:

A protest was held in DI Khan on Sunday over targeted attacks on four people, including two lawyers, on sectarian grounds.

The protest was organised by Majlis Wahdat-e-Muslimeen and Imamia Students Organisation. Majlis-e-Wahdat-e-Muslimeen Central Deputy General Secretary Ahmad Iqbal Rizvi and ISO central naib president Sarfaraz Hussaini led the protest.

The demonstration began from Imamia Gate and protesters subsequently gathered at Kashmir Chowk. A large number of people participated in the protest and shouted slogans in favour of their demands. Commuters were inconvenienced due to traffic gridlocks on Circular Road.



During the protest, speakers said a large number of Shias had been subjected to targeted killings but the government was not taking concrete measures to arrest the assailants.

They added militants were killing citizens in broad daylight and the police and law-enforcement agencies had failed to maintain law and order.

They urged the government to arrest those who were responsible for
the death for four people in DI Khan, saying exemplary punishments should be meted out to the assailants.

They also demanded compensation for the families of those who had been killed.

“Military operations should be extended to sensitive areas of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, including Peshawar, Hangu and DI Khan,” Shia Ulema Board Head Agha Sayed Hamid Ali Shah said.

In the backdrop

On Thursday, four people – two lawyers and two teachers –were shot dead in separate incidents in DI Khan.

The first incident took place within the jurisdiction of Muryalli police station. Unidentified armed men on motorbikes opened fire on Mukhtar Hussain and Akhtar Hussain. Both men were killed on the spot.

In a similar incident on Grid Station Road, unidentified men on motorcycles opened fire on senior lawyer Advocate Atif Zaidi and Advocate Ali Murtajiz Zaidi. The assailants managed to flee the site.

On Friday, an official of Board of Revenue, Anwar Zeb, was killed when unidentified people opened fire at his car on Dalazak Road within the jurisdiction of Paharipura police in Peshawar.

Lawyers have urged the government provide protection to their community and take strict action against the culprits. FIRs have been registered against the target killings of the four people. Further investigation is under way.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 9^th, 2016.