PESHAWAR, July 11: Imamia Jirga held a rally here on Friday to protest against the recent terrorist strike in Quetta in which 56 people were killed.

The protest march, led by the Jirga general secretary Sajjad Hussain Zahid, started from Kocha Risaldar and ended at Kabuli police station, Qissa Khwani Bazzar. The demonstrators, carrying placards and banners, were shouting slogans against the sectarian violence.

Addressing the demonstrators Mr Zahid said the innocent people came under attack in the imambargah when the Balochistan government had made the so-called full security arrangements in the city.

He said the attack on imambargah and the killing of 16 police recruits had exposed the inefficiency of the federal and provincial governments, and that of the law enforcing agencies.

He said the provincial home minister had admitted the failure of the agencies and immediately resigned.

Mr Sajjad said the Shia community strongly condemned this act of terrorism and held the government responsible for such incidents in Quetta. He alleged that the Balochistan government was not serious in taking strong action against the terrorists.

The Shia community, he said, had lost its trust in the law enforcing agencies, and the local population still felt insecure.

He said that while the state agencies had arrested 500 suspects of Al Qaeda, they had failed to arrest a single culprit of the Quetta massacre.

Maulana Ghulam Ali Zahid said the MMA government in the NWFP did not come up to the expectations of the people. He said the law and order situation was deteriorating in the country, and the wave of sectarian violence could spread in other parts of the country if proper security steps were not taken.