Not so peaceful after all: Two more shot injured in Gilgit

Incident comes a day after top local clerics vowed to prevent sectarian violence.

GILGIT:

Two men were shot injured in Gilgit on Monday, a day after top Muslim clerics of different schools of thought joined hands to promote sectarian harmony in the restive town.

The incident took place at Bargo locality, an official of the district administration, Akbar Khan, told The Express Tribune. He said the unidentified gunmen sprayed bullets on two locals, Naeem and Shakir, and fled. The two men were taken to City Hospital Kashrote, where condition of Naeem, who received three bullet wounds, is critical while that of Shakir is stable.

The incident prompted locals to take to the streets in protest. They blocked the Gilgit-Ghizer highway for three hours demanding arrest of the attackers and dispersed after getting assurances from the government.

A day earlier in Gilgit, the Gilgit-Baltistan government brokered a rare meeting of top Shia and Sunni clerics, Qazi Nisar Ahmed and Agha Rahat Hussaini respectively. The clerics shook hands and hugged in the presense of dozens of officials of the G-B government, including the chief minister, cabinet members and members of the masjid committee, official sources said.

Officials said the clerics the recent incidents of sectarian violence in the region and declared killing of fellow Muslims non-Islamic. They vowed to help foster sectarian harmony in Gilgit, where peace has been marred by repeated incidents of violence. The clerics, however, also partly blamed the government for the unrest due to its failure to ensure law and order in the town, the officials added.

Haifur Rehman, who is the chief of Pakistan Muslim League - Nawaz (PML-N) G-B chapter and a staunch critic of the government, termed the meeting “the government’s only achievement in the past three years”.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 11^th, 2012.