KARACHI, June 3: Allama Jilani Chandpuri has appealed to Muslims of all schools of thought to maintain unity in their ranks and not to indulge in violence, as Islam forbidsits followers of doing so.

Allama Chandpuri, addressing a press conference on Thursday atKarachi Press Club, condemned the Imambargah Ali Raza tragedy,and said the present circumstances in Karachi were not a good omen, which could only be overcome by unity. He held miscreants responsible for the Karachi situation, adding there was no Shia-Sunni issue.

"Peace in the city can only be restored if all such edicts in which followers of one school of thought were declared as infidels by the other are forfeited, and all seminaries affiliated with political parties, where youths are being corrupted with prejudiced knowledge against others, be de-linked from political parties, and only those Ulema be allowed to open seminaries in future who have no links what so ever with politics.

Maulana Aun Naqvi said they, in their meeting with the governor, had demanded that secret agencies should bereactivated so that in future such barbaric incidents could be pre-empted, high-handedness of police and Rangers with participants of processions stopped, and compensation to bereaved families raised from Rs0.1m to Rs0.5m, as the amount was no more than a joke.

He asked why were terrorists involved in attacking mosques not arrested when the same police was active in tracking down murderers of a US citizen and French engineers. Also present on the occasion were Allama Furqan Haider Abidi, Maulana Abbas Mehdi, Maulana Aun Naqvi, Maulana ShabihulRaza Zaidi, Maulana Feroz Rehmani, and Maulana Tahir Mehmood Quaderi.