Twelve people, including a police guard, were injured when a fresh wave
of sectarian violence erupted in Pakistan's port city of Karachi yesterday.
According to reports, clashes took place between violent demonstrators and
police when the latter ambushed a mosque of the opposite sect in Shah Faisal
Town of Karachi east district. The demonstrators were also attacked by the
rival side when they attacked and fired at the mosque of their opponents,
reports said. Violence broke out soon after the killing of five persons
belonging to one of the rival sects earlier in the morning. Police used tear
gas and aerial shots to disperse the demonstrators, the reports said.
Meanwhile the following letter is an opinion received about the current
state of affairs in Pakistan…..
I would like to draw the attention of community members to
general insensitivity towards the brutal murders of Shia scholars, doctors,
lawyers and intellectuals in Pakistan. This has been going on for last few
years. In many of the situations it even doesn’t become news or an email
discussion issue.
We have to realize that Pakistan is probably the largest Shia community in the world after Iran. Murders of Palestinians get much more attention in our discussion group than murders of Shia scholar in Pakistan…why just because so-called Muslims killed them. Just imagine if Agha Sultani was murdered be a Jew, Hindu or a Christian in some European country, India or in USA, we would have received hundreds of condemnations and comments regarding that issue.
Khoja Jamat of Karachi, the largest in the world has lost two presidents in such massacres. The situation in Pakistan is more critical then it appears. In some situations more than one member of same families were murdered.
It appears that youths are recruited from Pakistan, brainwashed and trained in Afghanistan by Talibans, carrying Russian weapons,supported by Saudi finance so as to commit such horrendous crime and to suppress the Shias intellectual and other strength in the country.
Criminal activities of Taliban cannot be ignored just because they claim themselves as Muslim. Remember Yazid also claimed himself a Muslim. Massacre of 10,000 shias in Mazar Sharif in 1998 by Taliban (Reported in Dawn Karachi) should not be forgotten or forgiven.
The Government of Pakistan, like the previous governments is
unable to stop such killing or bring the criminals to justice. If it were
murder of Americans, it would have been a different story. The life of
innocent Pakistani doesn’t count much, especially when its Shias, the rest
of the world including other Muslims just turn their head to the other side.