Activists protest in London against killings in Pakistan

LONDON: Some of the leading Pakistani political parties have ties with the banned sectarian terrorist outfits and either use them or connive with them to achieve their own goals through perpetration of sectarian violence, Shia Pakistani protesters have alleged.
Supporters of various Shia Muslim parties, including Majlis Wahdatul Muslimeen (MWM) organised a demonstration here outside the Muttahida Qaumi Movement’s International Secretariat to highlight the rise in attacks on Shia leaders. Dozens of mainly youth protesters alleged that workers of a local political party were involved in the recent terror attack on Mirza Yousuf, a leader of Majlis Wahdatul Muslimeen (MWM) who remained unhurt in the attack but one of his personal guards and a policeman were killed.
The protesters alleged that Pakistan’s leading political parties, including the MQM, were complicit in the targeted killings of Shias in Karachi and these parties have “ties with Takfiri groups in Pakistan, including Lashkar-e-Jhangvi”.
A petition submitted on this occasion said that the MWM has “strong evidence which supports our knowledge” of a leading local party’s “complicity in the target killings of Shias in Karachi and the support towards terrorist groups including Lashkar-e-Jhangvi”.
MQM has always strongly denied any involvement in violence has said that it has members of all faiths and belongings in its ranks and has played a leading role in maintaining sectarian harmony in Pakistan’s largest city but its critics say that the party doesn’t tolerate those who are not its members or supporters. It’s leader Altaf Hussain is amongst those who for the first time warned of Talibanisation several years ago and has spoken against sectarianism.
Syed Wajahat Ali, one of the protest organisers and leader of the Imamians UK, called on all parties to clarify their position “on the target killing of Shias and the immediate steps they will be taking towards ending this oppression”. He said that all parties have encouraged the rise of these groups and called on these parties to immediately terminate “all ties with terrorist groups including Lashakr-e-Jehangvi and other Takfiri groups operating in Pakistan”.
He said that a case has been registered against the so-called political activists who are allegedly involved in attack on the MWM leader.
He said that these workers target those who don’t agree with their politics.
Maulana Raza Haider, Ibrar Hussain and Maulana Taqi Jafar also addressed the demonstrators and condemned the involvement of political parties in Shia killings and demanded of them to stop threatening innocent citizens on account of their faith.