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Pakistani Shiite Party Blames Government After Shooting Deaths
ISLAMABAD, March 5 (News Agencies) - A Shiite party Monday blamed Pakistan's military rulers for a sectarian "onslaught" against the minority Muslim community and called for a three-day strike to mourn the weekend killing of 12 people.
"We hold the military government responsible for the onslaught against the Shiite community," Tehreek-i-Jarfia Pakistan Chief Allama Sajid Naqvi said.
He urged Pakistani Shiites to protest after religious services Tuesday marking the start of the three-day Eid al-Adha festival.
"The unrest among the minority community is a very serious threat to the peace in the society," he said.
Twelve people died on Sunday when six gunmen in two groups opened fire at a Shiite shop and a gathering at a Shiite graveyard in Sheikhupura, 40 kilometers (25 miles) east of the Punjab provincial capital Lahore.
The Pakistan Human Rights Commission (HRCP) also accused the government of military ruler General Pervez Musharraf of failing to control armed groups.
"It is a matter of grave concern that the military government has not enforced the law for disarming militant groups who are wreaking havoc with weapons accumulated openly," HRCP Chairperson Afrasiab Khattak said.
Shekhupura was tense with reports of minor scuffles as armed Shiites tried to force shops to close in accordance with a strike called by the TJP, residents said.
Funerals for the victims of Sunday's attacks, including five Sunnis and two policemen, were held amid tight security.
Lahore Police Deputy Inspector General Javed Noor said Abdul Haq, a wanted "terrorist" and activist with underground extremist group Lashkar-e Jhangvi, had been arrested.
Police have blamed Lashkar members for Sunday's attacks, which were believed to be in response to the February 28th execution of a Sunni radical, Haq Nawaz, over the 1990 murder of an Iranian diplomat in Lahore.
Twenty-five people have died in sectarian unrest since the execution, the first of a Sunni activist here following years of sectarian violence.
Nawaz was a member of Sunni group Sipah-i-Sahaba Pakistan (SSP), the parent organization of Lashkar-e-Jhangvi which has been officially declared a terrorist outfit by the Pakistani government.
Lashkar chief Riaz Basra is the most wanted man in Pakistan and has a bounty of five million rupees ($82,000) on his head.
He had also been sentenced to death for his role in the killing of the Iranian diplomat, but escaped from custody and is now believed to be hiding in neighboring Afghanistan.
Pakistan has repeatedly asked the ruling Taliban Islamic militia in Afghanistan to extradite some 60 sectarian "terrorists."
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