LARKANA, Feb 21: Syed Shafique Hussain Shah, grandson of spiritual leader and custodian of Dargah Hussain Abad Syed Ghulam Hussain Shah Bukhari, who died in a bomb attack on the spiritual leader’s motorcade on Wednesday, was laid to rest in Qambar town on Thursday amid moving scenes.

Syed Ghulam Hussain Shah led Namaz-i-janaza of his grandson. The late Shafique was buried on the premises of Dargah Hussin Abad after his father Attaullah Shah arrived from Saudi Arabia.

Seventeen-year-old Shafique had suffered serious wounds and later died in a Jacobabad hospital while the spiritual leader himself and seven of his disciples suffered injuries when two bombs concealed under heaps of hay on a road exploded under his vehicle near Ahmed Din Brohi village, five kilometres from Jacobabad, on Wednesday.

The custodian was leading a motorcade in his Pajero jeep and was on his way to the village to attend an annual conference when his vehicle was hit by blasts at 1.50pm.

Sources in police said that a number of suspects had been picked up for interrogation about the bomb attack but senior officials did not want to confirm the arrests officially at this stage.

Larkana, Qambar and Jacobabad towns remained shuttered in mourning over the tragic incident as hundreds of disciples of Syed Ghulam Hussain Shah attended the last rites of his grandson.

A large number of protesters led by Muhsin Mashori held a demonstration and staged a sit-in at the DIG chowk in Larkana and demanded immediate arrest of the culprits involved in the bomb attack on their leader.

They ended the protest after DIG Abdul Khalique Shaikh assured them of arresting the attackers.

In Jacobabad, leaders of Ittehad-i-Muslimeen Abdul Khalique Qadri and Syed Amir Shah led a procession which started from the Family Lane and terminated at the press club after marching on main roads. They criticised police for their irresponsible attitude and called for unmasking the attackers.

They said the attack on Syed Ghulam Hussain Shah who had always preached peace and love was highly condemnable. Terrorists had no religion or faith and they were killers of humanity, they said.

Different groups of Jamaat Ahle Sunnat staged demonstrations in front of the press club and in different localities of the city while large caravans of people were seen leaving for Qambar town to attend the last rites of Syed Shafique.

Police picked up seven men on charges of forcing shopkeepers to pull down shutters but released them later.

Meanwhile, Joint Secretary of the PML-F’s Sindh chapter Mir Asghar Ali Panhwar, PML-Q leader Mir Zeeshan Khan Panhwar and PML-N leader Mohammad Aslam Abro condemned the attack in separate press statements and said the government had miserably failed to maintain law and order.

A meeting of the Larkana Chamber of Commerce and Industry chaired by its president Hafiz Mohammad Suleman Shaikh here on Thursday condemned the attack and said some anti-social elements were out to destroy the country’s peace. The government should take strict measures to curb such elements, said the meeting.

A brief shutterdown was observed and processions were taken out in several towns of Khairpur district on Thursday in protest against the tragic incident.

A large number of Sunni Tehreek activists took out a procession from Luqman and marched to Punj Gulla chowk where the participants held a demonstration. The town remained shut for an hour on the protesters’ appeal.

Similar protests were staged in Bungalow town of Kot Diji taluka and Pakka Chang and Akri Chowdagi in Faiz Gunj taluka.