WASHINGTON (IslamOnline) - At least 15 people were killed and 10 others injured after four days of rioting that hit Kohat town near Peshawar, Pakistan. Trouble started over the ownership of Hazrat Mir Anwar Shah's shrine, to which both Shias and Sunnis claim ownership.
According to Sunnis, the Shias had agreed that they would visit the Shrine twice a year on the 10th of Moharram and the Chehlum of Imam Hussain. But last week "some people tried to renovate the shrine, which was considered as violation of the pact by the Sunnis, who stopped them from doing so, which resulted in the riots," reported Dawn newspaper.
But the paper reported that trouble started after local authorities allowed Sunnis to renovate the shrine and barred Shias from entering for security reasons. The report says that Shias did not approve of the ban.
The Shia party Tehreek Jafria (TJP) claimed Sunnis had agreed in 1999 that the shrine would be renovated and said that they had no problems with local Sunnis over the ownership of the shrine as both of them hold it sacred.
A TJP leader claimed that an outsider group claiming itself to be the Taliban is responsible for the clashes.
During the clashes, several businesses and government buildings were also destroyed, with a telephone exchange and hospital hit with missiles. Paramilitary militias have taken positions in the nearby mountains but have not been able to control the situation.
Meanwhile, tribal elders of both sects have called for a ceasefire and appealed to all parties for calm.
