Millions of Pakistanis Slam Anti-Shia Killings

Source : Ahlul Bayt News Agency

Shia Muslims in Pakistan say the recent terrorist killings are being instigated by foreign forces to foment sectarian strife among Muslims.

Pakistani Shia Muslims have staged a rally in the capital, Islamabad, to express their outrage at the growing violence against Shias in the country.

Crowds of protesters took to the streets to commemorate Martyrs’ Day to honor those who lost their lives in a recent bomb explosion in a Shia neighborhood of Pakistan’s port city of Karachi.

On March 3, over 48 people were killed and 150 others wounded in a car bomb attack carried out in Karachi. Women and children were among those killed and injured.

The demonstrators called on the government to take decisive action against the forces involved in the targeted killings. They also accused the government of failing to provide security for the country’s Shia Muslims and to maintain law and order in the country.

The demonstrators further said that the terror attacks on Shia Muslims in Pakistan are being instigated by foreign forces to foment sectarian strife among Muslims.

Human Rights Watch says more than 400 Shias were killed in Pakistan in 2012, which was the deadliest year on record for the Pakistani Shia Muslim community.

On February 16, a bomb attack targeting Shia Muslims in the main bazaar of the southwestern city of Quetta killed at least 90 people, including women and children, and injured more than 200 others.

Also on January 10, a twin bomb attack at a crowded billiard hall in Quetta, which is the capital of Balochistan Province, killed more than 90 people, mostly Shia Muslims.