KARACHI, Jan 30: Religious parties and clerics on Sunday strongly condemned the assassination of Dr Haroon Qasmi in broad daylight and terming it a 'target killing'. They said that the government, which had failed to arrest any of those who had killed many ulema one after the other in the city, was responsible for the incident.

Senator Prof Ghafoor Ahmed, an MMA leader and naib nazim of the Jamaat-i-Islami, wondered that the administration would act promptly and arrest any underworld don involved in a murder, but it appeared quite helpless against those who had been assassinating ulema.

City chief of the JI Dr Mairajul Huda Siddiqui deplored that while terrorists and criminals were enjoying a free movement, police had confined their action against ulema and other citizens. Maulana Abdul Karim Abid, deputy chief of the JUI-F, Sindh, said that the killing of Maulana Qasmi had once again proved that the government had lost its writ.

None of the assassins of the prominent ulema, including Maulana Ludhyanvi, Mufti Shamzai, Mufti Jameel, Maulana Taunsvi, could have been arrested so far, he pointed out, and said this had encouraged terrorists and the government was directly responsible for the situation.

The JUI leader said that the killings of Maulana Qasmi and other ulema were not related to sectarianism, but terrorism that had posed a serious challenge to both the federal and provincial governments. He said that the governments should accept their failure and step down.

Mufti Muneebur Rehman said that killing of any human being, was a despicable act which deserved condemnation. Neither Islam nor humanity allows anyone to kill the other. The urged the government to track down the culprits and hand them exemplary punishment in order to get the society rid of such elements.

Allama Asfandyar Khan, Deputy Secretary General of the JUI-S, described the series of killings targeted against ulema as 'a conspiracy to wipe out Islam' and attributed it to agents of Zionist and Christian lobbies.

He demanded foolproof security arrangements for ulema. Hafiz Mohammad Taqi, city chief of the MMA, Shaikh Rafique Ahmed, MNAs Mohammad Hussain Mahenti, Abdul Sattar Afghani and Laeeq Ahmad, MPA Nasrullah Shaji and other MMA leaders have also condemned the Maulana Qasmi's killing and stressed that the government had no right to rule over the country now when it had miserably failed in protecting ulema and ordinary citizens.