Shia leaders claim three men detained in Saudi Consulate attack are innocent

Why is it that Shias are arrest­ed or implic­ated before Muharr­am each year.

KARACHI: Some senior Shia ulema have taken note of the fact that sectarian tensions tend to flare up before Muharram over one matter or another, and according to them, the recent detention of the three members of Lashkar-e-Mehdi on suspicion of attacking the Saudi consulate is yet another case of this.

The Majlis-e-Wahdat Muslimeen held a press conference on Wednesday to offer their analysis of why such incidents occur. Spokesperson Maulana Zafar Hasan said he noticed a pattern in the deterioration of the ties between the different sects in Karachi.

He said that every year, near the beginning of Muharram, some mishap occurs and affects social cohesion. Around this time of year, Shias are implicated in various crimes and this creates animosity between them and the other sects. He said that when people commit crimes, the fact that they are Shia is accentuated and presented as the only dimension of their identity.

“The transgressors are repeatedly labeled by their sect, as if it played an elemental role in the crime but this is often not the case,” he said.

He posed the question that if rallies and gatherings of all sorts, whether they are against KESC or for a particular party, occur perennially in Pakistan without facing much difficulty, then why do Shias face such difficulty in conducting the Muharram processions?

Hasan then addressed the recent detention of the three members of the Lashkar-e-Mehdi, Mohsin, Zaki and Ali Kazmi by the Crime Branch police for their possible involvement in the attack on the Saudi consulate earlier this year. The administrative judge of the Anti-Terrorism Court, Justice Faisal Arab, has remanded the suspects to police custody till November 28 while they try to gather evidence against them. Their partner, Tabish, was killed in a police encounter on November 20.

Hasan said that while his organisation condemns the attacks in the Saudi consulate, it does not believe that Mohsin, Zaki, Ali Kazmi and Tabish were involved and that the law enforcers must hunt down the actual perpetrators.

“Peace will certainly prevail if the government desires tranquility. When the President or Prime Minister visits the city, even a bird cannot be killed,” he said. “In Muharram last year, we worked closely with the government... Thus no unsavory incident transpired last year.”

Hasan also said that the offices of banned organisations in Karachi should be shut down and the security officials who collaborate with them should be taken to task.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 24^th, 2011.