Accusations of interference: ASWJ to protest outside Iranian consulate

Activists demanded the Pakistani authorities to raise the matter on the diplomatic front.

KARACHI:

Ahle Sunnat Wal Jamaat (ASWJ) will hold a sit-in outside the Iranian Consulate General on January 31, against what the party termed, ‘Iran’s increasing interference to flare sectarian tension in Pakistan.’

The ASWJ leadership made the announcement on Sunday as its activists held a protest at the Karachi Press Club in connection with the disclosure of a ‘neighbouring country’s involvement in sectarian violence’ by Raja Omar Khattab, in-charge of the Crime Investigation Department’s (CID) Counter Terrorism and Financial Crime Unit, a day earlier.



The activists shouted slogans against the Iranian government as they demanded the Pakistani authorities to raise the matter on the diplomatic front.

Allama Taj Muhammad Hanafi, the ASWJ’s Karachi spokesperson, said that Khattab’s revelations about the 17-member group, affiliated with the banned outfit, Sipah-e-Muhammad Pakistan, were an eye-opener for the government. Speaking to the media on Saturday, Khattab said that the group was involved in around 60 cases of sectarian killings in Karachi alone and was being provided funds and militancy training by a neighbouring country.

“We demand that the government to launch a crackdown against such elements and keep a strict check on suspicious activities,” said Allama Hanafi.

Meanwhile, the Majlis-e-Wahdat-e-Muslimeen, in reaction to the CID’s arrests of alleged target killers, said that they will not tolerate the detention of innocent Shia youngsters. Its deputy secretary general, Allama Ali Anwar, said that the community reserves the right to protest the arrests of innocent people by the law enforcers.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 27^th, 2014.