Sectarian politics: Police scramble to defuse two groups planning Numaish sit-in

Shia Ulema Council planning to protest over scout killings on Sunday.

KARACHI:

After the Numaish Chowrangi killing of two scouts on the first day of Muharam, the law enforcement agencies have been working double time to take the edge off sectarian tempers in the city. And unless someone pulls out, they are likely to face another volatile situation today as the Shia Ulema Council says it will stage a sit-in at Guru Mandir as will the Ahle Sunnat wal Jamaat (ASWJ) at Numaish Chowrangi, just a stone’s throw away.

While speaking at a press conference at the Shah-e-Khurasan Imambargah, the council’s president, Ali Muhammad Naqvi, gave the government an ultimatum to arrest ASWJ’s Karachi chief Aurangzeb Farooqi. “If the government fails to catch the main suspect involved in igniting sectarian strife by Thursday, our council will stage a sit-in at Guru Mandir,” he said. “The government will be responsible for the consequences or any clashes that take place.”

He alleged the ASWJ activists enjoyed police protection and had organised the rally at Numaish on Sunday. “[We] had informed SP Abdul Salam Sheikh that the Sunday rally would be provocative as the ASWJ’s activists would be carrying weapons and chanting [biased sectarian] slogans,” he said. “But the SP said that nothing of the sort would take place and we should let them arrange a rally.” Naqvi added that the ASWJ’s central office should also be sealed.

The ASWJ was formerly known as the Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistan (SSP), an outfit that was banned in 2002 during former president Pervez Musharraf’s government.

Naqvi condemned what had happened at Bab-e-Rahmat Mosque and said that a place of worship was a respectable place and did not belong to a particular religion or sect. He asked the authorities to look into the matter and investigate.

For its part, the ASWJ has said it was not involved in Sunday’s violence. Information secretary Taj Hanfi told The Express Tribune that his organisation had announced that it would be protesting against the illegal detention of their activists nearly three days ago. “Their [Shia Ulema Council’s] intention is clear,” he said. “They want to provoke us.”

District East SP Abdul Salam Sheikh appeared to be hopeful despite the stance taken by both groups. “We’re trying to persuade [the SUC] to call it off,” he said. “I hope we’ll sort out the situation by tonight,” said Sheikh on Thursday night.

The SP said that Farooqi would not be arrested but that they were still investigating the scouts’ deaths. He suggested the SUC ask for an inquiry if it felt that the police were being biased.

While talking to The Express Tribune on Thursday evening, Naqvi said that they would review the decision to stage a sit-in at a meeting of all Shia organisations at around midnight. “We might decide to go ahead with it or call it off,” he said, adding that the main concern was security. “We suspect that the government will fail to provide us proper security,” he said. “This means that we can become an easy target for terrorists.”

Published in The Express Tribune, December 2^nd, 2011.