MWM demands bringing attack’s perpetrators to book

Religio-political party also seeks compensation for injured, families of deceased

As part of its countrywide demonstrations in connection with the previous day’s terrorist attack in Parachinar, Majlis-e-Wahdat-e-Muslimeen (MWM) staged a protest rally at the Karachi Press Club on Sunday.

As many as 25 people, majority of them poor vendors and shopkeepers, were killed and more than 65 others injured on Saturday in a bomb explosion at the fruit and vegetable market in Parachinar, the headquarters of Kurram Agency. Lashkar-e-Jhangvi al-Alami and Ansarul Mujahideen are said to have claimed responsibility for the attack.

Locals and Upper Kurram Agency MNA Sajid Hussain Tori said the explosive device was planted in a fruit or vegetable crate that went off when a large number of people gathered in the market in the morning.

This was reportedly the third terrorist strike in the market in the recent past. The last terrorist attack in Parachinar had taken place 13 months ago. The relatively long period of peace had raised hopes that this would continue.

Protesters participating in the MWM’s rally in Karachi demanded that the terrorists behind the attack be arrested and awarded stern punishment, and citizens all over the country be provided safety against acts of terrorism.

The demonstrators held placards inscribed with demands for compensating the injured as well as the families of the people who lost their lives in the attack.

The road opposite the press club was blocked for the protest rally, as leaders of the religio-political party warned the government that they would be forced to take drastic measures in case the authorities failed to apprehend the perpetrators of the attack.

A day earlier, MWM had called for a three-day mourning on the Parachinar market blast. The party’s central secretary general, Allama Raja Nasir Abbas Jafri, held the government’s “inept policies” responsible for the attack. “The government seems completely helpless in providing security to its people. Parachinarians must not be punished for being loyal to the country.”

Jafri claimed that on the one hand the people of Parachinar were being “tortured by the state machinery”, but on the other, terrorists continued to target peaceful citizens of the city. “The National Action Plan (NAP) has completely failed, and militants are once again active, which has created panic and fear among the citizens.”

He said the international media had clearly informed the world that the Islamic State terrorist group had moved to Pakistan from Syria via Afghanistan. “And our government’s silence has proved its involvement in such activities.”

The MWM leader said it was high time that entry and exit points of the country be strictly monitored to avoid recurrence of such incidents. “Those who support extremists and terrorists should be dealt with iron hands. Until that happens, the country’s security is at risk.”

He said terrorism could only be weeded out with the civil and military forces on the same page.