KARACHI, May 7: All major political parties have deplored Friday's bomb blast in a city mosque and demanded that the government should step down for its failure in containing terrorism. They have also demanded arrest of the culprits.
President of the Jaffaria Alliance Senator Abbas Kumaili, while strongly condemning the incident, demanded immediate arrest of the terrorists. He, along with other JA leaders Allama Furqan Hyder Abdi, Maulana Hasan Zafar, Salman Mujtaba Naqvi and Maulana Mirza Yousuf visited various hospitals where the blast victims were under treatment.
They also condoled with the relatives of those died in the incident. Allama Kumaili said that the United States and its agents were behind the bloodshed of Millat-i-Jaffaria from Iraq to Karachi.
"We would not provide any chance to the enemies of Pakistan to succeed in disintegrating the country," he said. The Shia Ulema Council, Sindh, has announced a three-day mourning throughout Sindh. The council met at the residence of its provincial chief, Allama Hassan Turabi to discuss the blast at mosque.
Meanwhile, Allama Abbas Kumaili has appealed to all political parties to observe a two-day mourning and urged businessmen and traders to suspend all business activities till Sunday to express solidarity with the Millat-i-Jafria.
Nisar Ahmad Khuhro, opposition leader in the Sindh Assembly, told a news conference that the heinous crime against worshippers in a mosque of the alma mater of Quaid-i-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah was yet another manifestation of the government's failure in maintaining law and order.
He also took exception to the remarks by CM's Advisor on Home Affairs, carried by a private TV channel, in which the aide had implicated opposition politicians in the blast.
Mr Khuhro said that the aide, Mr Aftab Shaikh's remarks were 'very unfortunate and uncalled for' and reflected 'real intentions' of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement which, he alleged, was bent upon eliminating opposition.
He said the incident, which had enraged people against the government, had taken place at a time when by-elections were around the corner. The Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal, while deploring the bomb blast, saw US hand in it to foment sectarian violence in the city. The MMA supported the two-day mourning announced by the Jafria Alliance.
Secretary General of the Jamaat-i-Islami and a central leader of the MMA Syed Munawwar Hassan said that after failing in its attempt to pit Shias against the Sunnis in Iraq, the US was now trying to do the same through its agents here in Pakistan.
He said that the incident was part of the agenda to make Pakistanis pay for their opposition to the US policies. Muttahida Qaumi Movement chief Altaf Hussain strongly condemned the act of terrorism in which so many people were killed and injured.
He said that this inhumane act was a conspiracy aimed at sabotaging the peaceful atmosphere in Sindh, particularly in Karachi. He also demanded of the president, prime minister, Sindh governor and chief minister to ensure arrest of the culprits as soon as possible.
Addressing a hurriedly called press conference at the 'Nine Zero', the MQM Coordination Committee in-charge, Anwar Alam, said that just two days before the party chief Altaf Hussain and other leaders had indicated that some elements were hatching a conspiracy to destroy peace in the city.
Mr Alam claimed that "a religious party, which had connections with jihadi terrorists, was involved in this conspiracy." Ms Ghinwa Bhutto, chairperson of the PPP-SB also deplored the blast, and said that such incidents were taking place every now and then because the government had not addressed the law and order problem seriously.
Pleading for tolerance and compassion, she called upon the government to ensure that culprits were arrested without any delay. Mairaj Mohammed Khan, a senior politician, condemned terrorism and said it was failure of the government to effectively deal with law and order situation.