July 7, 2003	Monday	Jumadi-ul-Awwal 6,1424

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HANGU, July 6: Five victims of Quetta mosque terrorist attack were buried at their ancestral villages in Hangu and Kohat districts, amid public demand for the resignation of Balochistan governor, chief minister and inspector general of police, here on Sunday.

The bodies of five victims of the attack were shifted to their native villages in Hangu and Kohat districts on Saturday. Four of them have been identified as Saleem Khan, Syed Mohammad Taqi, Syed Asghar Hussain and Akhlaq Hussain, while the name of the fifth victim could not be ascertained.

Protest meetings were also held in different areas of Hangu and speakers condemned the mosque’s massacre, saying that the government had failed to provide security to the citizens and demanded immediate resignations of the chief minister, governor and IGP.

Hangu Nazim Pir Haider Ali Shah has also condemned the attack. Talking to journalists at the funeral prayer of Saleem Khan in Ibrahimzai area, the Nazim said that some elements wanted to destabilize the country by fanning sectarianism in the country.

Our Correspondent from Gilgit adds: Thousands of protesters belonging to the Shia community took out a protest procession here on Saturday against the killing of 47 people on Friday in an imambargah of Quetta.

Shia leaders, including Syed Raziuddin Rizvi, former NALC adviser; Muhammad Afzal, Anjuman-i-Imamia president; Sheikh Ghulam Haider Najfi, Northern Areas food and agriculture adviser and Deedar Ali, a Northern Areas Legislative Council (NALC) member, led the procession comprised over 1,200 protestors.

The demonstrators were chanting slogans against Prime Minister Zafarullah Khan Jamali, saying that he had failed in providing protection to the innocent Shias.

They demanded of the prime minister to step down as he had failed to arrest the culprits involved in the killings. The procession, which was taken out from the Central Imamia Masjid, terminated at Khazana Road where it turned into a rally. Shops and markets in the vicinity of Khazana Road were closed in protest.

Speaking to the protesters, the Shia leaders said attacks were being perpetrated against the innocent people because the government had failed to punish terrorists in the past.

They also demanded a high-level probe into the matter and exemplary punishment to the culprits responsible for the attack.

The Northern Areas administration had made security arrangements for the procession.