HindustanTimes.com

Wednesday, October 8, 2003

Anti-Shia riots rock Islamabad

HTC & AP
Islamabad, October 7

Hundreds of Islamic seminary students went on a rampage on Tuesday at the
funeral of an assassinated hardline Sunni Muslim politician, setting fire to
a Shiite Muslim shrine and a movie theatre, smashing shop windows and
chanting anti-Shiite slogans.  At least one person was killed and three
wounded.

The violence at the funeral for Maulana Azam Tariq, the leader of the Millat
i Islamia, the new name for the banned Sipah-e-Sahaba extremist group and a
parliamentarian after the 2002 elections, raised fears his assassination
could spark a new wave of sectarian killing in Pakistan.

Tariq was gunned down on Monday along with three bodyguards and a driver as
they drove near a toll plaza on Islamabad's southwestern outskirts.

On Tuesday, thousands flooded a main traffic intersection in front of the
parliament building for the funeral.  "Shiites are infidels!'' many in the
crowd chanted, as hundreds of heavily-armed police looked on.

"Shiites are involved in the killing of Maulana Azam Tariq,'' said Sheikh
Hakim Ali, a supporter of Sipah-e-Sahaba. "The martyrdom of Azam Tariq is a
matter of pride for us. We will continue his mission.''

After a funeral prayer, the seminary students ran toward Islamabad's main
business centre, Blue Area, using sticks to smash shop windows.

One of Islamabad's only movie theaters was set ablaze during the riot, and
rescuers pulled out Naseer,  a theatre employee who later succumbed to the
fumes he inhaled.

Later, rioters set ablaze the Sakhi Mahmoood shrine - a Shiite shrine that
is also popular with many Sunnis. Caretaker Gauhar Ali said everything
inside the tomb was burned down.

Police used batons and tear gas to disperse the crowd.

Many in the crowd chanted slogans against Shiites and against President
General Pervez Musharraf.

Tariq is to be buried inside a complex that once served as the headquarters
of Sipah-e-Sahaba in Jhang, a city about 180 miles southwest of Islamabad.

Most schools and shops in the city were closed and hundreds of policemen,
many riding trucks mounted with machine guns, patrolled the streets.
Elsewhere in Pakistan, security was tight.

Interior Mnister Faisal Saleh Hayat announced a high-level invistigation
into Tariq's murder.

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