ISLAMABAD, July 5: President Gen Pervez Musharraf on Saturday said he was pained at the Quetta incident, and requested the Hazara community to show utmost restraint. He said it was the second incident in which the “progressive Muslim community was targeted”.

Gen Musharraf, speaking to newsmen at the airport, said it was yet not clear who was behind this crime. He said the matter would be investigated thoroughly and an appropriate action would be taken against the perpetrators of this heinous crime. In case of a foreign hand appropriate action would be needed, he added.

He said there was a need to check the use of mosques to propagate hatred against adherents of opposing schools of sectarian thought.

“I had talked to the Nazims about the issue, and want that the mosques should not be allowed to be used to spread hatred against others. These obscurantist mullahs incite the illiterate, and barbarians to kill in the name of religion,” he added.

He said the Quetta incident had not only damaged the name of the country, but also disgraced Islam, which is a religion of peace and love.