PAKISTAN: FUNERALS OF SHI'ITEI MUSLIMS IN QUETTA KILLED IN ATTACKS BLAMED ON SUNNI MILITANTS.

Record ID: 355640

  • Title: PAKISTAN: FUNERALS OF SHI'ITEI MUSLIMS IN QUETTA KILLED IN ATTACKS BLAMED ON SUNNI MILITANTS.
  • Date: 4th March 2004
  • Summary: (U1)QUETTA, PAKISTAN (MARCH 4, 2004) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) 1. VARIOUS OF MOURNERS LOWERING BODIES INTO GRAVES 2. VARIOUS OF MOURNERS HOLDING GREEN CLOTHES OVER BODIES AS THEY ARE BEING PREPARED FOR FUNERAL 3. BODIES BEING LOWERED INTO GRAVES 4. MORE OF MOURNERS 5. MORE OF BURIAL 6. VARIOUS OF ARMED SECURITY PER
  • Embargoed: 19th March 2004 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: QUETTA, PAKISTAN
  • Country: Pakistan
  • Reuters ID: LVA9YJC72O4X7OUIU2ZFXUJOIJOJ
  • Story Text: Shi'ite Muslims bury the deads of a massacre that
    killed 32, security forces patrol the town under curfew.



    Tens of thousands of Shi'ite Muslims marched in the
    south-western Pakistani city of Quetta on Thursday (March
    4) as funerals were held for many of 44 people killed in a
    gun and grenade attack blamed on Sunni militants.

    Shi'ite leaders had earlier delayed the funerals of 32
    of those killed in Tuesday's massacre, demanding the
    resignations of the provincial police chief and other
    officials for failing to prevent the attack despite heavy
    nation-wide security.

    Witnesses said about 20,000 Shi'ites took part in the
    funeral processions, chanting anti-government slogans.

    Allama Yaqub Tawasli, the leading Shi'ite cleric in
    Quetta, said a decision had been made to bury the bodies
    before they started to decompose, but he vowed protests
    after three days of mourning if the demands were not met.

    Under Islam, it is preferable to bury a body before the
    next sunset but this can be delayed in Pakistan to allow
    time for relatives to attend the funeral.

    Authorities imposed an all-day curfew in the city of
    400,000 people after Shi'ites ran riot, burning shops and
    vehicles following Tuesday's massacre.

    Hundreds of soldiers and paramilitary troops continued
    to patrol the city on Thursday as the curfew was maintained
    in many neighbourhoods.

    Police and Shi'ite leaders blamed the attack on the
    outlawed Sunni Muslim group Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, perhaps the
    most feared of Pakistan's underground militant groups. It
    has links to Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda network.

    The attack coincided with bomb blasts that killed at
    least 171 people at the holiest Shi'ite shrines in Iraq and
    which U.S. officials linked to al Qaeda. Pakistani
    officials have said it would be premature to link those
    attacks with Quetta.

    It was Pakistan's worst sectarian violence since a July
    suicide attack on a Shi'ite mosque in Quetta killed at
    least 57. About 15 percent of overwhelmingly Sunni Muslim
    Pakistan's 150 million people are Shi'ite. The Quetta
    attack has raised fears of more tit-for-tat sectarian
    killings that could considerably add to Musharraf's
    problems.



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