Shiites start to bury blast victims after meeting PM
Source: Agencies |
January 15, 2013, Tuesday
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SHIITE Muslims agreed yesterday to begin burying nearly 100 of their people killed three days ago in one of Pakistan's deadliest sectarian attacks after Prime Minister Pervez Ashraf said he would comply with their demands to sack the local government.
Ashraf met leaders of the Shiite Hazara community in a mosque near the site of last Thursday's twin bombings in Quetta, capital of Balochistan province, and told them he would dismiss the province's chief minister and cabinet.
He voiced deep sorrow over the killings, which led members of the Hazara community to hold a sit-in next to the 96 unburied bodies of the victims and sparked protests across Pakistan.
Ashraf said he would impose "governor rule," which allows him to replace local authorities, some of whom the Hazara accuse of fomenting violence against them.
"When you will awake in the morning, Governor Rule would have been imposed in Balochistan province," he said.
In response, the Shiites called off their three-day-long protest sit-in and began burials yesterday, said Qayyum Changazi, chairman of the Yakjehti Council, a national umbrella organization of Shiite groups.
Hundreds killed
The protesters told Ashraf that hundreds of Shiites from the Hazara ethnic group had been killed in Quetta in recent years and that members of the provincial government had sponsored some of the violence.
Ashraf said he and President Asif Ali Zardari "express our deep sorrow and grief over the killing of innocent people of Hazara Shiite community who were killed in bomb blasts."
Protests against the Thursday attacks on Shiites had spread across Pakistan over the weekend. The attacks, claimed by the Lashkar-e-Jhangvi militant group, killed at least 96 people.
Sectarian killings have been rising in Pakistan even as deaths from other militant violence have dropped.
Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, whose roots are in the heartland Punjab province, is a Sunni militant group that wants to expel the Shiaites, who make up about a fifth of the 180 million population.
Islamic tradition demands that the dead be buried as soon as possible. Leaving the bodies of loved ones above ground for so long is such a potent expression of grief and pain that many people in other cities held protests and vigils in solidarity.
Ashraf met leaders of the Shiite Hazara community in a mosque near the site of last Thursday's twin bombings in Quetta, capital of Balochistan province, and told them he would dismiss the province's chief minister and cabinet.
He voiced deep sorrow over the killings, which led members of the Hazara community to hold a sit-in next to the 96 unburied bodies of the victims and sparked protests across Pakistan.
Ashraf said he would impose "governor rule," which allows him to replace local authorities, some of whom the Hazara accuse of fomenting violence against them.
"When you will awake in the morning, Governor Rule would have been imposed in Balochistan province," he said.
In response, the Shiites called off their three-day-long protest sit-in and began burials yesterday, said Qayyum Changazi, chairman of the Yakjehti Council, a national umbrella organization of Shiite groups.
Hundreds killed
The protesters told Ashraf that hundreds of Shiites from the Hazara ethnic group had been killed in Quetta in recent years and that members of the provincial government had sponsored some of the violence.
Ashraf said he and President Asif Ali Zardari "express our deep sorrow and grief over the killing of innocent people of Hazara Shiite community who were killed in bomb blasts."
Protests against the Thursday attacks on Shiites had spread across Pakistan over the weekend. The attacks, claimed by the Lashkar-e-Jhangvi militant group, killed at least 96 people.
Sectarian killings have been rising in Pakistan even as deaths from other militant violence have dropped.
Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, whose roots are in the heartland Punjab province, is a Sunni militant group that wants to expel the Shiaites, who make up about a fifth of the 180 million population.
Islamic tradition demands that the dead be buried as soon as possible. Leaving the bodies of loved ones above ground for so long is such a potent expression of grief and pain that many people in other cities held protests and vigils in solidarity.
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