Party supporters at the gathering for funeral prayers. PHOTO: REUTERS
KARACHI: The namaz-e-janaza for late Majlis-e-Wahdat-e-Muslimeen (MWM) Deputy Secretary General Maulana Dedar Ali Jalbani was held in Karachi on Wednesday, Express News reported.
Supporters of the party gathered in the hundreds to attend his funeral prayers on MA Jinnah Road. They also shouted slogans against the killing and demanded the government arrest Jalbani's killers.
Jalbani's body will be taken to Khairpur for burial.
Speaking at the event, an MWM spokesperson said that had the Karachi operation been conducted properly, such incidents would not occur.
He added that MWM is “hopeful that the culprits will be arrested by tonight and if they are not, the party will announce its plans on what to do next.”
On the streets
Many schools and businesses throughout the city are closed for the day while many businesses that are operating have a low turnout.
Three main universities, Karachi university, Federal Urdu university and NED university postponed examinations scheduled for Wednesday.
MWM had announced a three-day mourning period after the maulana was killed on November 3.
Traffic going to and from the gathering has been closed off by containers and minibuses causing major traffic jams in many parts of the city.
Shahrah-e-Faisal, MA Jinnah Road, Preedy Street, Tower and Nursery are some of the areas where traffic is jammed.
"We closed the [arterial] road and stopped movement of traffic in the surrounding areas also to avoid any untoward incident," senior police official Pir Muhammad Shah told AFP.
Background
Maulana Dedar Ali and his security guard-cum-driver were two of 13 people who were killed in Karachi on November 3.
Based on their initial investigation, police believed that most of the killings were a result of sectarian violence.
The MWM leader was shot in Gulshan-e-Iqbal when he was on his way to the MWM office in Ancholi Society along with his driver Sarfaraz Ali, from his residence in Ayub Goth when armed motorcyclists intercepted his car and opened fire killing them both on the spot.
Following the incident, various parts of the city – particularly Shia-dominated neighbourhoods – such as Ancholi Society, Rizvia Society, Ayub Goth, Gulistan-e-Jauhar, Gulshan-e-Iqbal, Jaffer Tayar Society in Malir, MA Jinnah Road and Abbas Town saw commercial activities come to a halt as unidentified armed men had resorted to indiscriminate firing in reaction to the killings.
MWM had appealed to the public to remain calm and had demanded that the government and law enforcement agencies arrest the culprits.
COMMENTS (12)
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@Sindhu: You said "Very often the hero of one is a foe of the other and, likewise, their victories and defeats overlap."
I am not sure if a Sunni or in fact a Muslim following any Madhab with the correct understanding of the Deen and fear of ALLAH SWT can have any negative feelings about those historical personalities. We do not judge what happened 14 hundred years ago cause none of us qualify for that. They were all the chosen people of ALLAH SWT. I pray that people of any sect that considers itself Muslim give up violence as a means to correct the other.
“It is extremely difficult to appreciate why our Sunni friends fail to understand the real nature of Shia and Sunni. They are not religions in the strict
sense of the word, but are, in fact, different and distinct social orders, and it is a dream that the Shia and Sunni can ever evolve a common nationality,
and this misconception of one Pakistan nation has troubles and will lead Pakistan to destruction if we fail to revise our notions in time. The shias and
Sunnis belong to two different religious philosophies, social customs, and litterateurs. They neither intermarry nor interdine together and, indeed, they
belong to two different civilizations which are based mainly on conflicting ideas and conceptions. Their aspect on life and of life are different. It is
quite clear that Sunnis and Shias derive their inspiration from different sources of history. They have different epics, different heroes, and different
episodes. Very often the hero of one is a foe of the other and, likewise, their victories and defeats overlap. To yoke together two such nations under a
single state, one as a numerical minority and the other as a majority, must lead to growing discontent and final destruction of any fabric that may be so
built for the government of such a state.”
@Ali Tanoli. We will continue to see Shia killing spree in Pakistan until we have people with your mentality.
Thousands dies in drone and other bombing no one say any thing not even one hug prasat
That is why their credibility is not the one we had observes since its inception.
The Maulana was killed on December 3rd, not November 3rd. Please correct such a huge blunder.
its not only shia genocide...
When will Shia Genocide stop? And we call this a muslim state
May their souls R.I.P.
May Allah Almighty bestow eternal peace to the departed soul and grant his family the courage and resilience to bear this irremediable loss. (Ameen)