KARACHI, May 27: The suicide bomb attack at the Bari Imam shrine near Islamabad on Friday has been widely condemned by a cross section of society across the country. Leaders of various parties and groups termed the attack a heinous crime against humanity and a conspiracy against Islam and Pakistan.
They also questioned the government’s claim of having succeeded in improving security and curbing terrorism.
Founder of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement Altaf Hussain deplored the incident in which many innocent people were killed and scores of others injured, a large number of them critically.
“Islam is the religion of peace and compassion and preaches respect for humanity, but today’s incident is a deplorable demonstration of barbarism which is against the teachings and spirit of Islam.”
He said that those who had planned such a heinous crime were the enemies of mankind and should not be spared at any cost. He appealed to the president and prime minister to take serious notice of such incidents and act firmly against the elements who were exploiting religion for their vested interest. He urged people to maintain calm.
The suicide attack was also deplored by Jamaat-i-Islami leaders, including Qazi Hussain Ahmed, Syed Munawwar Hassan and Mairajul Huda Siddiqui. Expressing their deep anguish and concern over the incident, they maintained that the incident exposed the failure of the government in maintaining law and order and protecting life and property of people.
“Occurrence of such a massive bomb blast, despite the strict security measures, including installation of screening machines, has raised many questions about the regime’s claims of having curbed terrorism and its capability to contain terrorists.”
While expressing condolences with the bereaved families, the JI leaders maintained that the government had failed to provide security to the people because all security agencies were deployed to ensure safety and security of the president, prime minister and a big fleet of ministers and advisers, as well as their relatives.
The Pakistan People’s Party also expressed deep anguish over the incident and said that it had exposed the ‘myth of stringent security measures’ often claimed by the government.
In statement issued from the Bilawal House here, PPP leader Asif Ali Zardari expressed his shock over the casualties caused by the bomb blast. He said that such incidents did not bode well for the future of the country.
He deplored that while the state machinery and the laws especially designed for ‘war on terror’ were being applied on innocent political workers, particularly those of PPP, terrorists had been given complete freedom to strike even in the high-security zones.
Mr Zardari said his party was in a state of grief, as was the entire nation, over the loss of precious lives of innocent people in the incident. The regime, which gave the democratic and liberal citizens a horrific treatment while leaving the field open for extremists, had made the entire nation insecure, he added.
The PPP leader said that disenfranchisement of the majority of the people of Pakistan had led to a situation where their life was under threat and it had been proved beyond any doubt that only popular leadership, not the incidental leaders, could take the country out of this deep crisis.
Sindh ANP President Shahi Syed and General Secretary Farooq Bangash also condemned the suicide attack and described it a conspiracy to plunge the country into another bloodbath and divide people on sectarian lines.
Zubair Khan, Sindh President of Tehrik-i-Insaaf, said that the suicide bomb attack was a conspiracy against people and failure of the government in maintaining law and order and providing security to the common man.
