02 October 2004	Saturday	16 Shaban 1425

LAHORE, Oct 1: PML President Shujaat Husain says the Sialkot bomb blast accused will be held accountable at all costs. In a press statement here on Friday, he said the government would leave no stone unturned in tracing the accused.

Those who took the lives of worshippers were enemies of the entire humanity. The loss of life, the former prime minister said, was simply not compensable. However, the government would try to compensate the bereaved families.

Shujaat said the entire nation was united against terrorism and terrorists would certainly be unsuccessful in their designs. Punjab PPP President Qasim Zia and Information Secretary Chaudhry Naveed have also condemned the incident.

In a statement, they said the Punjab government should resign immediately for its failure to avert the tragedy. JUP President Prof Shah Faridul Haq and other leaders, K. M. Azhar Khan, Dr Muhammad Zubair and Qari Zawwar Bahadur have also condemned the blast and offered condolences over the deaths of so many people.

Pervaiz: Chief Minister Pervaiz Elahi has expressed deep sense of shock and grief over the bomb blast in Sialkot which has resulted in loss of precious lives and injuries to some others.

In a statement issued here on Friday, the chief minister assured that the culprits involved in the incident would soon be brought to book and awarded deterrent punishment.

Expressing his sympathies with the bereaved families, he said he equally shared their grief. He directed the administration to provide medical treatment on government expenses to the injured, besides ensuring their proper care.

He directed the health minister and the IGP to rush to the site on receiving the news of the incident. Meanwhile, the Muslim Christian International Federation has condemned the attack on a Sialkot Imambargah resulting in the loss of a number of lives.

Condemning the incident, federation chairman Qazi Abdul Qadeer Khamosh, vice-chairmen Bishop Samuel Azariah and Hafiz Misbah Zia, secretary general Joseph Francis and chief organizer Abdul Qadir Shaheen said in a joint statement that those targeting the places of worship like mosques and churches were the perpetrators of hatred and had nothing to do with any religion.

ISO: The Imamia Students Organization (ISO) staged a protest demonstration against the bomb blast in Zainabia mosque in Sialkot during Friday prayers in which 21 people were killed and around 60 others injured.

A large number of people participated in the protest which was held here outside the Lahore Press Club Friday evening. ISO President Nasir Abbas Sherazi urged the government to arrest the killers of the innocent people and hand them down exemplary punishment.