A Sectarian Bloodshed

By Mansoor Khan, *Covert hands behind sectarian bloodshed* - The Nation - Lahore, Pakistan
Sunday, October 10, 2010

Karachi: Ground to boost up sectarian bloodshed is gaining strength day by day. The multidimensional target killings and other violent incidents among the rival religious groups are increasing the level of anger and a possible clash among the believers of rival sects could not be ruled out because concerned authorities failed to track down the root cause of violence.

According to the reports, the twin blasts at Sufi saint’s shrine and frequently upward incidents of violence taking place in the city for last couple of years are justifying the involvement of covert hands seeking the a sectarian bloodshed in the city.

Despite the reports of intelligence agencies and recently recovered Indian made explosive RDX from the possession of activists of a defunct sectarian organisation, law enforcement agencies seem reluctant to take action against the sectarian outfits having ties with Al-Qaeda, Taliban and foreign agencies including RAW and KGB.

Renamed banned sectarian outfits are gaining strength, hoisting flags, collecting funds and running their offices across the city without any hindrance by the security agencies.

The defunct SSP activists had placed the collection stalls outside the recently held congregation of non-violent organisations in Orangi Town where hundred of thousands people participated.

Source privy to the matter told that organisers of the gathering banned the entry of the any collection unit and the said stalls took place outside the boundary but police and intelligence organisations did not take any action against them.

A senior activist of SSP whishing to be anonymous accused a third party’s involvement in all sectarian killings continuing in the city.

He pinpointed the involvement of a declared minority behind the sectarian killings and other target killing incidents in the city.

He said that there are a number of high-ranking officials belonging to the same faction working in the various security agencies, organised and operating the various criminal groups for such sort of activities to flare up the sectarian and ethnic violence in the city.

A systematic chain of incidents is suggesting the existence of an organisational structure behind all such incidents from Ashura blast to Ghazi shrine blasts. A senior police official wished to be anonymous told TheNation that the blasts at the Sufi’s shrine seem a conspiracy to fuel the sectarian violence in the city.

The blasts went off after an hour of the burial of Mulana Muhammad Amin, gunned down a day earlier in target killing, leader of SSP sister organisation Sunni Action Committee and after the frequent killing of 23 SSP activists taking place within a month and half.

Simultaneous incidents of target killings of defunct Sipah-e-Sahaba workers and leaders started last year and scores of people including the leadership of the SSP have been killed in the first episode of the sectarian violence.

[Picture: Inside Abdullah Ghazi shrine. Photo: Umme Salma Hamdani/Wiki]