Pakistani President Seeks Report On Attacks On Shias

Islamabad, Nov, 28, IRNA -- Pakistani resident Asif Ali Zardari has sought reports about series of recent terrorist attacks on Shiite Muslims during the last ten days of Muharram, presidential spokesman has said. The President has asked Interior Minister Senator A. Rehman Malik to submit a comprehensive report into the sporadic incidents of violence in Dera Ismail Khan and Rawalpindi that seemed to mar the arrangements made for ensuring sectarian peace and harmony during Ashura, he said. Nearly 40 people were killed in one suicide attack near Muharram procession in Rawalpindi last week and two bomb blasts in Dera Ismail Khan on Saturday and Sunday. Presidential Spokesperson Senator Farhatullah Babar said that the President also commended the efforts made by the government for peace during Ashura. However unfortunate and condemnable such sporadic incidents of violence are, these cannot detract from the overall atmosphere of peace that was witnessed during Ashura, the President said the Interior Ministry, the provincial governments and all those who worked hard to ensure peace deserve to be complimented. 'I also wish to commend the common citizens, volunteers, razakars and religious ulemas for the part played by them in maintaining peace and ensuring the safety of the people who were in the state of mourning during the Ashura, the President further said. The President particularly appreciated the successes made in timely detection of gory plots of sectarian and militant violence in different parts of the country that helped prevent potentially huge human and material losses during Ashura mourning and said that they deserved special commendation. The President also expressed sympathies with the bereaved families and said the blood of innocent people shed while performing religious obligations would never go in vain. He urged the people from all walks of life not to be provoked and to maintain unity in confronting the common enemy whether militants or religious zealots who stirred sectarian violence and never felt any qualms in killing innocent people in the name of religion and did not spare even women and the children./end