Condemning the new spate of sectarian violence, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan has said that sectarianism and intolerance ruin the very fabric of society and are against the basics of humanity so every citizen should be protected at all costs.
He expressed these views during his visit to a hunger strike camp set up by the Majlis Wahdatul Muslimeen (MWM) outside the National Press Club against targeted killing of Shia community members.
Several people belonging to the Shia community have been killed in targeted attacks as sectarianism rears its ugly head in Pakistan again.
Talking to media, Khan held out assurances that the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government would take all necessary steps to ensure protection of life and property of citizens besides bringing the culprits to justice.
Khan said he was standing with the Shia community and they should not feel alone in this hour of trial. He also said that killing people for their beliefs was against humanity and the issue would be taken up in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s apex committee meeting.
The PTI chief said his party believed in a tolerant Pakistan with rights and protection for all in accordance with the vision of Quaid-e-Azam. “We will never progress till perpetrators of violence are not punished,” he added.
Khan assured the strikers that the way the killers of PTI MPA Soran Singh and a girl in Abbotabad were arrested, justice for the Shia community would be ensured. He said when the PTI came into power in KP, over 700 policemen had already been killed in four years, but now the situation had improved to a great extent.
“Everybody in the country has the right to protection and the KP government will work with the Shia community in this respect,” he added.
On the occasion, MWM Secretary General Allama Raja Nasir Abbas complained to Imran Khan about KP government’s inaction on protection of members of the Shia community.
He said they were left with no option but to stage a hunger strike because people of their community were being killed but no steps were being taken to ensure protection to their life and property.