President Asif Ali Zardari Monday sought a comprehensive report from Interior Minister Abdul Rehman Malik regarding the incidents of violence in Dera Ismail Khan (DIK) and Rawalpindi and termed these an attempt to disrupt sectarian peace and harmony during Ashura. Presidential spokesperson Senator Farhatullah Babar said the president also commended the efforts made by the government to maintain peace during Ashura.
“However unfortunate and condemnable such sporadic incidents of violence are, these cannot undermine the overall atmosphere of peace that was witnessed during Ashura,” the president said. “The ministry of interior, interior minister Rehman Malik, the law enforcing agencies, the provincial governments and all those who worked hard to ensure peace deserve to be complimented,” the president further said.
“I also wish to commend the common citizens, volunteers, “razakar” and religious scholars for the part played by them in maintaining peace and ensuring the safety of the people who were in a state of mourning during Ashura,” the president addeds.
Moreover, the president particularly appreciated the success in timely detection of gory plots of sectarian and militant violence in different parts of the country and said it helped prevent potentially huge human and material losses during Ashura.
Furthermore, the president also expressed sympathies with the bereaved families and said the blood of innocent people shed while performing religious obligations would never go in vain. He urged people from all walks of life not to be provoked and to maintain unity in confronting the common enemy, whether militants or religious zealots, who stirred sectarian violence and never felt any qualms in killing innocent people in the name of religion and did not spare even women and the children.
