(AhlulBayt News Agency) - Thousands of Shiite Muslim people on Monday (today) continued to protest against the arrests of, All-Pakistan Shia Action Committee (APSAC) Chief Allama Mirza Yousaf Hussain and former Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Senator Faisal Raza Abidi.
Protests continue in Karachi’s Malir area after top Shia cleric Mirza Yusuf Husain was apprehended by law enforcement personnel.
Representatives of various Shia parties began protesting early Monday at around 1:30am in Malir and on Shahrah-i-Pakistan against targeted killings and arrests of workers, with protesters saying they will continue their demonstrations until arrested workers are released.
Police used tear gas shelling and aerial firing in an attempt to disperse the protesters, who were obstructing railway tracks in the area and bringing morning traffic along the National Highway to a standstill.
After an initial attempt at dispersing the crowd, the protesters regrouped at the same location. Talks between police and the crowd are ongoing.
Protesters were carrying signs against the arrests and the target killings of Shia religious leaders. They chanted slogans accusing the government of protecting leaders of banned outfits.
The protesters blocked the busy road for about two hours as they gathered in front of the Rescue 15 office. They dispersed at about 5pm.
Speakers at the protest said that the government had been targeting them for their links with the Shia community and warned the government that if the arrested leaders were not released, they would continue protesting.
Abidi, a Shiite politician and former Pakistan People’s Party senator, was arrested by Rangers in the wee hours of Saturday at his residence in New Rizvia Society.
The law-enforcement agencies had arrested also Shia scholar Allama Mirza Yousuf Hussain of the MWM and shifted him to an undisclosed location for interrogation.
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