KARACHI, May 16: Leaders of different political parties have condemned the Tuesday bomb blast in Peshawar and termed it part of the attempts to divert the public attention from real issues.

Leader of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement Altaf Hussain, in a statement issued from London, expressed grief over the loss of many innocent people’s life in the suicide attack, and urged the president, prime minister and interior minister to take notice of the gory incident and ensure immediate arrest of terrorists.

Former prime minister and President of the PML-N Mian Nawaz Sharif talking to a local party leader Tariq Khan over phone from London condemned violence in Karachi. He said people of Karachi had rejected the Muttahida Qaumi Movement. He appealed to the people to remain united and continue their struggle against the government.

Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal leader Prof Ghafoor Ahmad and JI’s city chief Dr Mairajul Huda Siddiqui said the rulers could not save government by diverting public attention through blasts.

They observed that the May 12 episode had exposed the MQM’s real face and the entire world now had realised who were responsible for the disturbances.

Acting President of the PML-N, Sindh, Salim Zia, condemning the violence in Karachi, murder of the additional registrar of the Supreme Court Hammad Raza and Peshawar blast, claimed that Mr Raza’s murder was a target killing aimed at eliminating a vital evidence relating to the presidential reference, filed against Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry.