Members of the Shia community in Jammu and Kashmir’s Baramulla district staged a protest on the Srinagar–Baramulla National Highway in the Hanjiwera area on Friday, condemning the deadly suicide bombing at a Shia mosque in Pakistan’s capital, Islamabad in which several members of the Shia community were killed.
The demonstrators marched along the highway, raising slogans against Pakistan’s establishment and expressing solidarity with the victims of the attack, which claimed dozens of lives.A visibly conspicuous part of the protest was the marched during which protestors resorted to anti Pakistan slogans - "Pakistan Murdabad" which echoed the site for quite some time. A protester said, "This attack in Pakistan is nothing new. It has been happening for the last 10-15 years. We, Yahya, have gathered here to condemn it...You want to erase the Shia community, we won't be erased...
Another protestor said that the slogan "Pakistan Murdabad" does not apply to the innocent common people of the country but to the administration and government, which has failed to stabilise the financial and social conditions of Pakistan and instead stays occupied with terrorism.
”The reason we have gathered here today for this procession is that we simply cannot understand how someone can kill another person while they are praying in a mosque. What kind of mindset is this that leads someone to go into a mosque, detonate a bomb on their body, and spill the blood of the people standing next to them? What kind of mentality, what kind of ideology is this that incites them to go into a mosque and murder children, women, and innocent people?”, he lamented.
When we chant "Pakistan Zindabad" (Long Live Pakistan), our intention is certainly not to condemn the people of Pakistan. This slogan is directed at their administration, their system, and their government, which is illogical, and whose financial and social conditions are declining. They have been condemned throughout the world, yet they are still engaged in terrorism..." he stated.
The protest follows the suicide bombing during Friday prayers in Islamabad that killed dozens of worshippers and injured several others, after which Pakistan tightened security nationwide as investigations continue. At least 31 people have died, with 169 injured, after a suicide bombing at an Imambargah in Islamabad during Friday prayers, according to media reports citing the authorities
According to Dawn, the explosion occurred at the Imambargah Khadijah-tul-Kubra in the Tarlai area. It further noted that the Minister of State for Interior, Tallal Chaudhry, told the media in Islamabad that while the attacker was not an Afghan, authorities had been able to determine through forensic tests the number of times he had travelled to Afghanistan.
Follow us
