ISLAMABAD: The Shia Ulema Council (SUC) has announced it will observe Friday as a ‘black day’ to protest the alleged shooting of protesters by FC personnel in Parachinar and reiterated its demand that the army chief should visit the Kurram Agency and see the realities on the ground for himself.

Addressing a press conference on Thursday at the National Press Club, SUC Secretary General Allama Arif Wahidi said the people of Parachinar have always been loyal and law abiding citizens.

“Parachinar is a remote area but its residents have put up resistance against infiltrations and Taliban insurgents, and they are being punished for being loyal to Pakistan in the form of terror attacks,” Allama Wahidi said.

SUC demands army chief visit Parachinar

“What is distressing is that the authorities have not even recognised their sacrifices and sufferings,” he added. The recent bombings on the last Friday of Ramazan took from the spirit of Eid as someone was killed or injured in almost every home, he said.

“The people are depressed and upset which is why they are protesting on the streets instead of celebrating Eid and recent events have also raised doubts and suspicions about the security apparatus as well,” Allama Wahidi said, adding: “That is why we are demanding that the army chief visit Parachinar and talk to their representatives.”

He said suspicions against local security apparatus was justified and ground conditions show that there was deliberate negligence which led to the terror activity.

“I have been to Parachinar several times and even a 10-year-old boy in school uniform and wearing a school bag is thoroughly checked, which is fine, but then how did a explosives laden vehicle, suicide bombers and foreign agents enter the city so easily,” he asked.

“Residents of Parachinar want to convey these facts to the army chief directly which is why they want him to visit,” he said.

The SUC secretary general said there were several attacks on Al Quds day including in Quetta and Karachi and claimed these were all done by foreign agents in order to sabotage the solidarity of Pakistanis with the people of Palestine.

“We understand that foreign elements are involved in creating unrest in the country but the conduct of local security personnel in Kurrum Agency also need to be reviewed,” he said.

He countered a query about certain elements criticising the army on social media for destroying some training camps with another question and asked, “What do the camps have to do with Eid shoppers?”

“We have always supported the authorities, now and in the past, both civil and military in the fight against terror for the sake of security and the integrity of Pakistan and we have never been involved in terror attacks against any installation or state structure of the country,” he said.

Allama Arif Wahidi criticised the prime minister for ignoring the plight of terror victims.

“We want to know if Nawaz Sharif is the prime minister of Pakistan or of Punjab. There have been several terror attacks in the country before Eid and Parachinar suffered the worst. The premier came directly to south Punjab from London. He also forgot to convey his sympathies with the victims of Parachinar, let alone announce a compensation package for them,” he said.

Allama Wahidi added that a package was announced six days later and that too half of what victims of the Bhawalpur accident will get which he said is “unfair”.

Meanwhile, the protest outside the National Press Club by the Majlis Wahdat Muslimeen in solidarity with victims of the Parachinar terror victim continues.

Speakers including civil society activist Farzana Bari, decried firing on peaceful protestors in the aftermath of the twin blasts in Parachinar.

Several political leaders have also visited the protest camp to express solidarity with the victims including Senator Farhatullah Babar, PPP’s Senator Rehmam Malik and Nayyar Bukhari, Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf Information Secretary Naeemul Haq, Awami National Party’s Mian Iftikhar Hussein and Sunni Itehad Council’s Sahibzada Hamid Raza.

They agreed that the army chief, prime minister and the interior minister should visit Parachinar and talk to the victims.

Published in Dawn, June 30th, 2017