LAHORE, Oct 29: The eight minority councillors of the Lahore city district condemned the killing of Christians in Bahawalpur and termed the incident as an attempt by Indian intelligence agencies to ignite a Christian-Muslim strife in Pakistan.

They were speaking at a joint news conference at the Lahore Press Club on Monday. District Nazim Mian Aamir Mahmood and Brig Yasub Ali Dogar (retired) of the Minority Advisory Council were also present.

They appealed to the Christian community to remain peaceful and foil the conspiracy hatched by the enemies of the country.

Councillor Naseer Danial urged the government to unveil the elements behind the tragic incident and award them exemplary punishment. He thanked President Gen Pervez Musharraf and district Nazim Mian Aamir Mahmood for their sympathies with the Christian community.

Councillor Sooba Saroya urged the Christians to remain peaceful and wait for the outcome of promises made by President Pervez Musharraf. By holding violent demonstrations, they would be working for the fulfilment of designs of India which wanted to create unrest in Pakistan at this critical juncture of its history.

Councillor Kamran Michael said the enemies of the country wanted to divide the nation on religious lines. Councillor Rasheed Chaudhry said that the Muslims were not involved in the Bahawalpur massacre. He said there was apparently some foreign hand behind the tragic incident.

Similar views were expressed by Salim Gabriel, Akram Masih Gill, Aamir Peter Gill and Aamir Samuel.

District Nazim Mian Aamir Mahmood said the district government had enhanced police patrol in Christian localities. He said Churches had been put under police guard while there would be special security arrangements at the time of service.

On a question he said there would also be special security arrangements on the occasion of annual Tablighi moot at Raiwind. He said as many as 2,000 policemen would remain on security duty during the days of religious congregation. He said all the buses transporting moot participants to Raiwind would be checked on several stages.

Replying to another question, he said the Bahawalpur incident had nothing to do with US air strikes in Afghanistan. Yasub Dogar said its was the responsibility of the Muslims to protect Christians living in their neighbourhood and foil the attempts being made by the enemies of the country to divide the nation.

He said there should not be any feeling of insecurity among the minorities.