KARACHI: The sit-in at the Numaish traffic intersection by Shikarpur Shuhada Committee, a representative body of the families of imambargah suicide attack victims, came to an end peacefully on Thursday after the government accepted most of the demands in marathon talks with the committee leaders.

Among several other demands accepted, the government agreed to raise to Rs2 million compensation for the imambargah victims from the Rs500,000 it usually granted to the heirs of victims of bomb blasts and incidents of terrorism.

The announcement to this effect was made at a hurriedly-called press conference at CM House jointly addressed by Chief Minister Syed Qaim Ali Shah and head of the Shikarpur Shuhada Committee Allama Maqsood Domki.

Leaders of the Majlis-i-Wahdat-i-Muslimeen, Sindh Minister for Information Sharjeel Inam Memon, Sindh IG Ghulam Haider Jamali and Karachi Commissioner Shoaib Ahmad Siddiqui were also present at the news conference.

Govt agrees to raise compensation for heirs of victims to Rs2m

The sit-in started on Tuesday night after the bereaved families arrived in the city in a long march to protest government failure to arrest perpetrators of the Jan 30 suicide attack on the Imambargah that left at least 60 people dead and many others injured.

The chief minister said the government had already accepted most of the demands put forward by the committee but they still wanted to come to Karachi. All issues had been settled amicably in an atmosphere of harmony, he said.

He said the Sindh government had raised to Rs2 million compensation for the suicide attack victims although it usually granted Rs500,000 as compensation to the heirs of victims of bomb blasts and incidents of terrorism.

He praised Sindh Assembly Speaker Agha Siraj Durrani, ministers Sharjeel Memon, Mir Hazar Khan Bijarani and senior PPP leader Aftab Shabaan Mirani for their positive role in resolving the issue. In politics, all thorny issues were settled through talks because violence only worsened things, he added.

“The negotiations with the heirs of Shikarpur tragedy victims did take some time but it ended on a positive note with all issues having been resolved amicably,” he said.

Minister for Information Sharjeel Memon said their talks continued till 4am the previous night and both sides reached agreement on a 20-point draft.

The agreement calls for a joint operation by Rangers and police across Sindh under the supervision of the apex committee, Shikarpur in particular; trial of the case of Shikarpur tragedy in a military court and formation of a joint investigation team for probe into the case.

It said the inquiries made by the JIT would be shared with the Shuhada committee, all the terrorists whose names were in the FIR would be included in the investigation and religious personalities across Sindh would be issued arms licenses for their security.

The other main points of the agreement, whose copies were distributed among media persons are: arrest and execution of the culprits behind the imambargah attack, search operation in the madressahs of the area, government jobs for the victims’ families, ban on religious outfits, adequate security at imambargahs and Shia institutions, ban on all groups involved in sectarian violence, vacation of government property occupied by religious extremists, stern action against those involved in sectarian hatred, Takfeeri and extremist groups involved in terrorism activities, ban on groups involved in wall chalking, hoisting flags and displaying posters and probe of terrorists attacks against Shias through JITs.

All the heirs of victims of targeted killing or terrorism in Karachi and other parts of Sindh be given increased compensation, heirs of Shafqat Abbas be paid Rs2 million compensation and action be taken against all foreigners including Uzbek, Chechen, Afghan, and Tajik who were found involved in terrorist activities, says the agreement.

Published in Dawn, February 20th, 2015

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