KARACHI: The Majlis-i-Wahdat-i-Muslimeen (MWM) on Sunday staged a rally near Shaheen Complex in protest of targeted killings in Karachi after police restricted demonstrators from marching towards the Chief Minister's House.
A large number of members of the Shia community, including women and children, were present at the demonstration just outside the city's Red Zone, which had been sealed shut with large shipping containers and barbed wires.
A large number of police was present inside the Red Zone to prevent any untoward incident.
The MWM had previously announced that it would stage the rally and sit-in in front of Chief Minister’s House on Sunday in what it described as the second phase of its protest against unending killings on sectarian grounds.
However, protestors were restricted from marching towards the CM House.
Demonstrators raised slogans against the killings and demanded that the killers be arrested and punished.
“We will go to the Chief Minister’s House and will present our demands only there,” said MWM leader Maulana Amin Shaheedi.
Speaking about the recent surge in targeted killings, he said: “Terrorists have no religion or sect. As long as the dollars and riyals keep pouring in, the terrorists will continue to kill with impunity.”
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The protest came after a young member of the community was shot dead Saturday by armed men in what police described as "an incident seemed to be linked to the recent wave of killings of sectarian grounds.”
The MWM condemned 35-year-old Ghulam Abbas Naqvi’s killing and blamed law-enforcement agencies for the recent upsurge in sectarian attacks.
“The law-enforcement agencies, including Rangers and the police, are involved in this barbaric trend,” an MWM spokesman told Dawn. “Some 11 people from the Shia community, including a doctor, have been killed within a week."
No credible action has been witnessed so far from law-enforcement agencies, suggesting that they are involved in this crime one way or another.”
According to Human Rights Watch, more than 400 members of the Shia community were killed in targeted attacks across the country last year.