July 20, 2003	Sunday	Jumadi-ul-Awwal 19, 1424

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QUETTA, July 19: Political and nationalist parties condemning the Quetta killings have vowed to combat extremism, sectarianism and fundamentalism with people’s support.

Pakistan People’s Party, Pukhtunkhwa Milli Awami Party, Balochistan National Party (BNP-M), Jamhoori Watan Party, Balochistan National Movement and Hazara Democratic Party organized a rally on Saturday to condemn the June 8 and July 4 incidents.

The rally turned into a public meeting near the taxi stand, where leaders of the parties spoke to the participants.

They alleged that the killings were meant to disrupt the peaceful atmosphere of the city by fanning sectarianism in the province.

Accusing religious parties of exploitation, the speakers said that fundamentalists and extremists had no social and economic programme for the country, therefore they always exploited the sentiments of the people in the name of religion.

They criticized the government for not providing proper security to the people and claimed that it was unable to let people about the real culprits.

Rejecting government’s assertion that foreign hand was behind the killings, they said that in order to conceal its incompetence the government had levelled such charges.