Boston holds vigil against Shia killings

(Ahlul Bayt News Agency) - Students and professionals in the Boston area organised a well-attended vigil on Friday evening in solidarity with Pakistan’s Shia Muslims and in protest of the ongoing target killings.A heavy snowstorm cleared up hours before the candlelight vigil at picturesque Copley Square in downtown Boston that some participants travelled for hours to attend. Banners and placards at the vigil proclaimed: “Stop Shi’ite Killings in Pakistan”, “I Stand Against Genocide. Where Do You Stand?” “Americans Against Shia Killings”, “When Will Thinking Replace Klling”, “We Want Peace”, and “Power to the People”.Some held placards with photos of people killed recently in Peshawar, Quetta, Lahore and Karachi. Syed Shehroz Hussain, 19, held a placard with a picture of his father Dr Syed Riaz Hussain, shot dead outside his clinic in Peshawar on Jan 10 this year.He said that Dr Hussain was “an ordinary doctor who wanted to help the people. He could not afford a bodyguard and kept asking the government for protection but got no response.” He had survived two assassination attempts in 2008, leaving him with injuries that prevented him from contesting the last elections.A week before Dr Hussain was killed, he had called Shehroz to say he was expecting to a “landslide victory” in the forthcoming elections as the Sunnis, Hindus and Christians in the Shia-majority in Kurram Agency had pledged to support him.“This is not a vigil of Shias for Shias. It is a vigil for humanity, a vigil of initiative,” said Shehroz, whose words moved many to tears. “I urge each of you to continue the momentum and do what you can to tell people about this issue.”“This is not just about the target-killing of Shia but in support of all communities of Pakistan,” said Batool Raza, a student of Suffolk University’s law department, one of the organisers. Another organiser, Zahra Saleha Ahmad of the Harvard Pakistan Students Group, said that “growing up Sunni in Pakistan” she had no idea about the dangers other communities faced.“This is not about Shia or Sunni but barbarians hijacking our religion and our country. The moderates must speak out,” she said. The event was supported by student groups at Suffolk, Harvard, MIT, Tufts and Boston universities, besides community organisations like the Alliance for Secular South Asia, the South Asia Center Boston, the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community (Boston), and the Pakistani Association of Greater Boston.Participants signed a petition be presented to the Pakistani Consul General in Boston urging the Pakistani government to take immediate action against the militant organizations carrying out these massacres, empower the police to apprehend the perpetrators; ensure that the judiciary works swiftly to prosecute the perpetrators; and provide substantial compensation to the victims’ families. /129