Opinion Shias again
A register of reports and views from the Pakistan press
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SHIAS AGAIN
VIOLENCE against Pakistans Shias continues unabated. After last months deadly attack on the Hazara Shias of Quetta,which claimed over 80 lives,a Shia neighbourhood in Karachi was ripped apart by a powerful bomb blast this week. On March 4,Dawn reported: At least 45 people… were killed and over 135 injured in a massive bombing in the citys Shia-dominated neighbourhood of Abbas Town on Sunday evening. The explosion took place at the time of Maghrib prayers between two apartment blocks at the entrance to Abbas Town. A blast had taken place on November 18 last year at almost the same place. As the investigation into the attack took shape,the role of a banned Punjab-based terror outfit in the attack surfaced. This outfit was also allegedly behind former prime minister Benazir Bhuttos assassination: Interior Minister Rehman Malik has pinned the blame for Karachis… attack on the Punjab government for what he called its inaction against banned organisations,particularly Lashkhar-e-Jhangvi (LeJ).
Ali K. Chishty wrote an analysis into this persecution of the Shias in The Friday Times on March 8. He connected the dots between the LeJ and other terror groups active inside Pakistan. Chishty quoted a CID officer: LeJ is definitely involved in the bombing… But the terrorists work in different groups under various aliases,such as LeJ al Alami,Jandullah Karachi,Jandullah al Alami,and Umar Army etc. Analysts say the defunct LeJ… has links with the new political party Ahl-e-Sunnat Wal Jamaat (ASWJ) and many former members of LeJ have joined the party.
But ASWJ chief Ahmed Ludhianvi says the allegation is false.
After a meeting of the cabinet on March 8,Pakistan PM Raja Pervez Ashraf was quoted to have said that orders have been issued for carrying out a stern action against all the banned outfits without any discrimination. The army chief,General Ashfaq Kayani,briefed President Asif Zardari over the security situation in Karachi and Quetta and offered help,if asked for,The Express Tribune reported.
POLL TIME
PAKISTAN is slowly yet steadily getting into election mode. While the schedule will be announced next week,the code of conduct for international observers,polling staff and security personnel was announced by the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP),reported The Express Tribune on March 8. The ECP has also invited applications for the allotment of election symbols till March 15. Dawn reported on March 8: Secretary ECP Ishtiaq Ahmed Khan visited the Army General Headquarters at Rawalpindi on Friday to discuss issues related to [the provision of security during the upcoming elections… army authorities assured all possible support to ECP to ensure peaceful environment for the elections.
PPP ON TOP
THE third pre-poll survey conducted by an international think-tank on Pakistans upcoming elections puts the incumbent Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) at the top. The News reported on March 8: The latest survey conducted… by an independent German organisation Heinrich Boll Stiftung astonishingly shows that… 29 per cent of people surveyed… support PPP… [The last two surveys,one by IRI and the other by Gallup Pakistan,show the PML-N is leading…
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