Chief minister calls for unity against terrorists

Civil society and Shia organisations protest against lack of action.

RAHIM YAR KHAN/ FAISALABAD/ BAHWALPUR:

The Hazaara community is being targeted by terrorists in Quetta and Karachi is awash in blood. It is time for all politicians, generals and judges to unite and save the country, Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif said on Tuesday.

He was speaking at a sports gala and speech competition for students from Attock, Mianwali, Dera Ghazi Khan, Rajanpur, Chishtian, Hasilpur and Rahim Yar Khan Danish schools.

The chief minister said that income disparities were was growing in the society. He said more often than not it was the rich who usurped the rights of the poor. The Hazaara, he said, were a poor people being targeted for practicing their faith.

Education will lead people to overcome conspiracies against them and save the country, Sharif said.

Rallies in Faisalabad 

Several Shia organisations protested against the lack of government action against terrorists responsible for the Quetta blast.

Majlis Wahdat-ul-Muslemeen held a rally at Jamia Chishtiya Chowk to express solidarity with the Shia community in Quetta. The protestors carried banners and placards. They blocked the Sargodha-Faisalabad road and chanted slogans against law enforcement agencies.

Majlis Wahdat-ul-Muslemeen District General Secretary Syed Mohsin Abbas said the government was a silent spectator to the tragedy.

Allama Ibn-e-Hasan Sheerazi said the Quetta blast was the worst such incident yet. The government must take action against extremists who were targeting Shias, he said.

Another rally and sit-in was held at GTS Chowk where Shia Ulema Council District President Rana Asghar, Allama Nusrat Abbas, Allama Haidar Kazmi and Mian Kaleem addressed protestors. They said they would continue protesting till those responsible for the heinous crimes against were apprehended.

Bahawalpur Protests

Members of human rights organisations and the Shiaan Haider-i-Karaar Millat held a protest demonstration at Fareed Gate against the blast in Quetta that claimed hundreds of lives.

The protestors chanted slogans against the government’s lack of action to curb militancy in Quetta.

They said their organisation had held rallies all over the country to express solidarity with those who had passed away in the Quetta bomb blast.

They said women, children and senior citizens had braved cold weather in Quetta to sit by the roadside holding their deceased loved ones’ bodies in protest against the government’s inaction in the matter.  “Unless the Army is called in and action is taken against Raisani’s government that supported militancy, we will not stop protesting,” A protestor said.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 20^th, 2013.