LAHORE, Feb 18: Several protests were staged in the provincial capital and other parts of Punjab on Monday to mourn the killing of more than 80 Shia Hazaras in an explosion in Quetta on Saturday.

In Lahore, the Shia community led by the Majlis Wahdatul Muslimeen and Imamia Students Organisation decided to spread the sit-ins from The Mall to other parts of the city after the media aired the news of the killing of Prof Dr Ali Haidar and his son Murtaza Ali near the FC College on Monday morning.

The protesters first gathered in front of Governor’s House at about 11:00am after the Majlis leadership decided late on Saturday night to stage rallies and sit-ins against the Quetta carnage from Monday. Later, the protesters staged sit-ins on Ferozepur Road near Chungi Amarsidhu, Metro Bus corridor at Chungi Amarsidhu Bus Station, Thokar Niaz Beg and Imamia Colony. They also tried to stage a sit-in at the Babu Sabu Interchange on the Motorway.

“We have now completely sealed the provincial capital to mourn the killings of innocent Shias by those who want to disrupt peace in Pakistan through terrorism,” Majlis information secretary Muzahir Shigri told Dawn. He said the Quetta carnage and then the murder of the Shia doctor and his son in Lahore made the Shia community lose the patience. He said protests and sit-ins would continue till acceptance of demands.

“We have tabled eight demands before the government: we have asked the government to hand over complete control of Quetta to the Pakistan Army, issue arms licenses to the Hazara community for personal security, eliminate the role of security officials facilitating the terrorists killing Shia people, investigate former Balochistan chief minister Aslam Raisani and some ministers of his cabinet for the Quetta killings, stop harassment of journalists by terrorists in Balochistan, remove hatred slogans written on walls and ban the movement of a banned religious outfit.”

“We want our demands accepted by the government immediately, as we do not want to see such a tragic incident again in Quetta or any other part of Pakistan. And if the government does not accept our demands, we will continue our protest on roads, highways and motorways across Punjab,” he said.

Earlier, Shia leaders Allama Abdul Khaliq Asadi, Hassan Hamdani, Iqbal Kamrani and Abuzar Mahdvi said at various sit-ins that the efforts to stop such incidents wouldn’t go waste. “Our patience is over now. And this time we will not end our protest till acceptance of our demands,” he added. He deplored the federal government’s failure in saving Shia people’s lives in Quetta. He criticised the Punjab government for not protecting a Shia doctor and his son who were gunned down on Monday morning.

Rallies and sit-ins were also staged in other parts of Punjab. In Sahiwal, about 500 people staged a sit-in near Central Imam Bargah in Jogi Chowk, raised slogans against the government, burnt tyres and mourned the Quetta killings.

In Gujranwala, Majlis and Shia Ulema Council activists staged a sit-in and blocked the roads at the Rawalpindi Bypass intersection, disrupting the flow of traffic toward Gujranwala, Sialkot, Rawalpindi and Lahore for two hours.

In Toba Tek Singh, scores of people staged a sit-in outside Imam Bargah Qasr-e-Abi Talib on Pirmahal road. Later, sit-ins were staged at Allama Iqbal Chowk and China Chowk.

In Dera Ghazi Khan, the local Shia community staged a sit-in on the premises of the Haideria Imam Bargah. Here, lawyers and Jamaat-e-Islami activists also took out rallies against the massacre of Shias Hazara. Faisalabad, Okara, Rahim Yar Khan, Khanewal, Multan, Sargodha and Bahawalpur also saw protests and sit-ins against the Quetta killings.