President Zardari seeks report on violent incidents during Muharram

Radio Pakistan

President Asif Ali Zardari has asked the Interior Minister Rehman Malik to submit a comprehensive report on the sporadic incidents of violence in D.I. Khan and Rawalpindi during the 10 days of Muharram. The president said these incidents seemed to mar the arrangements made for ensuring sectarian peace and harmony during Ashura. Presidential spokesperson Senator Farhatullah Babar said the President also commended the efforts made by the government for peace during Ashura. Howsoever such unfortunate and condemnable sporadic incidents of violence cannot detract the overall atmosphere of peace that was witnessed during Ashura. For this the Ministry of Interior and Minister Rahman Malik‚ the law enforcing agencies‚ the provincial governments and all those who worked hard to ensure peace deserve to be complimented. He also commended the common citizens‚ volunteers and religious ulema for the part played by them in maintaining peace and ensuring the safety of the people who were in the state of mourning during the Ashura. The President particularly appreciated the successes made in timely detection of gory plots of sectarian and militant violence in different parts of the country that helped prevent potentially huge human and material losses during Ashura mourning and said that they deserved special commendation. 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 the 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 while not sparing even women and the children.