PESHAWAR, Jan 12: Scores of members of Shia community on Saturday staged a rally on Sher Shah Suri Road in the provincial capital against the sectarian killings in the country.

The rally was organised jointly by Imamia Student Organisation, Toori Bangash Council and Youth of Parachinar.

Holding banners and shouting slogans against the recent sectarian killings, including those of Dr Riaz Hussain Shah and Abrar Hussain, protesters stayed put for an hour complaining of the government’s failure to protect the members of Shia community.

They later dispersed peacefully.

Later in the day, former Senator and patron-in-chief of Jamia Shaheed Allama Arif Hussain Al-Hussaini Allama Jawad Hadi addressed a news conference at Peshawar Press Club to demand the immediate arrest of the people responsible for the sectarian killings. He said those targeting the members of Shia community went off scot-free due to the law-enforcement agencies’ inefficiency.

“The government has taken no concrete steps to arrest killers of leaders from Shia community in the province, including Dr Riaz Hussain Shah,” he said.

He said the provincial government claimed to have cracked down on terrorists but even then, then there was no let-up in the acts of terrorism.

“We will not tolerate more bloodshed of our people. We don’t want to take law in our own hands but to our satisfaction, the government will have to protect the life of our community members in particular and that of the people in general,” he said.

Mr Hadi alleged that the federal and provincial governments knew well about the people behind sectarian violence but were deliberately reluctant to take action against them.

Condemning the killing of the members of Shia community in Quetta blast, he said the Balochistan government appeared to have accepted its failure to contain sectarian killings in the province.

He claimed that a well-organised group was behind the sectarian violence.

Flanked by Tori Bangash Council president Haji Gulab Hussain and Youth of Parachinar chairman Ali Shah, Mr Hadi pressed the federal and provincial governments for handle the anti-Shia elements with an iron hand to curb sectarian violence in the country.

He also lashed out at Governor Khyber Pakhtunkhwa for his failure to ensure law and order situation in Kurram Agency and said a number of businessmen, doctor, human rights activists and students had been lost life to sectarian violence.