Pakistanis stage protest against recent Shia killings

Pakistanis have gathered

outside the parliament building in the capital, Islamabad, to voice their anger at the targeted killings of Shia Muslims in various parts of the country. The demonstrators assembled in front of the country’s parliament on Friday following a march on the International Quds Day and called on Islamabad to take stronger action to stem the rising tide of violence against Shia Muslims. The protest came after gunmen dragged the Shia passengers off a bus in the northwestern district of Mansehra on Thursday and killed them at point blank range. Several others were injured during the attack. The victims were going from Rawalpindi to Gilgit -- a heavily-Shia-populated area. Meanwhile, on the same day, at least three more Shia Muslims were killed by armed men in the city of Quetta in the southwestern Pakistani province of Balochistan. Following the attack, the UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon strongly condemned the killing of Shia Muslims in northern Pakistan. In a released statement on Thursday, Ban's spokesman Martin Nesirky said the UN leader slammed the “appalling” attack. Also on Thursday, hundreds of Pakistani people took to the streets in the southern city of Karachi to slam the violence against Shia Muslims across the country.