QUETTA, Sept 12: A Shia organization has said that it will decide about its strategy after the end of a three-day deadline on Monday.
The All-Pakistan Shia Action Committee (APSAC) had given three days to the provincial government to arrest killers of two prominent figures of the community, Syed Bhural Shah and Prof Atiqul Hasan. It had threatened to launch a countrywide protest movement.
Speaking at a press conference held at an imambargah here, Syed Zahir Shah Zaidi, Allama Yaqoob Ali Tawasoli and Allama Maqsood Ali Domki blamed the government for failing to eliminate the network of religious extremist groups.
The APSAC's representatives said they felt that the government was trying to only pacify them by giving false assurances and keeping them in the dark. They said the APSAC would meet on Monday to determine the future plan.
The Shia leaders warned the government that they would launch a countrywide movement, hold rallies, observe hunger-strike and call for shutter-down strike if it failed to arrest the killers.
They presented six demands: arrested terrorists' trial should be accelerated; Shia community should be given protection; the network of those Ulema who issue Fatwas to promote sectarianism should be eliminated; councillor Syed Mohammad Shah should be released; FIR should be registered against ATF men involved in firing on Ashura day; and security guards should be provide to important Shia figures.
Earlier speaking at the Soyum of Prof Atiqul Hasan, who was killed on Friday, Allama Tawasoli and Allama Domki claimed that people of their sect have remained calm despite atrocities committed against them during the last five years in the province. The two leaders said they were peaceful and avoided retaliation, but cautioned the government that their people could not remain silent for ever.
