ISLAMABAD: Leaders of the Majlis-i-Wahdatul Muslimeen (MWM), Jamiat Ulema-i-Pakistan-Niazi (JUP-Niazi) and Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC) have accused the Punjab government of facilitating terrorists to create anarchy on sectarian lines, and demanded an inquiry into the matter.

Speaking at a press conference here on Tuesday, Allama Raja Nasir Abbas of the MWM, Sahibzada Hamid Raza of the SIC and Pir Masoom Shah of the JUP-N lauded the army for exposing elements behind the “Taleem-ul-Quran conspiracy”, in which “people belonging to that madressah themselves were found to be behind the killings and arson at the seminary”.

“There is no Shia-Sunni divide in the country as only a few groups of terrorists are killing innocent people,” Mr Abbas said. He alleged that the Punjab government was facilitating those groups.

The MMW leader alleged that Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif and Law Minister Rana Sanaullah used police as a political tool and hired extremists and terrorists to eliminate their opponents in order to maintain their grip on the province.

Mr Raza and Pir Shah said that those involved in creating unrest from the seminary in Raja Bazaar during the Ashura procession of the Shia community in 2013 were not Sunnis.

Published in Dawn, August 23rd, 2017