Protests held across Sindh against blasphemy

SUKKUR: The Sunni Action Committee staged demonstrations in Khairpur, Sukkur, Shikarpur, Ghotki and some other cities against an incident of desecration of the Holy Quran in Khairpur and the publication of blasphemous material by a French magazine.
Religious activists, along with traders and citizens, took out large protest rallies after Juma prayers. A leader of the SAC, Ghazi Syed Paryal Shah, said that the incident of desecration of the Holy Quran took place four days ago, but the Khairpur police failed to trace and arrest the accused.
They said that Khairpur SSP at a meeting with the religious leaders and other representatives of the city had assured them that police would trace the accused in 24 hours, but now several days had passed and the police were still clueless. They said that if the Khairpur police did not arrest the accused within two days then they would announce indefinite strikes across Sindh.
Meanwhile, the Sunni Action Committee leaders said that they would not tolerate the blasphemous material published by the French magazine. They said that this was not a single incident, but there had been a series of such incidents in Europe.
They criticized the government of Pakistan and said that the government had not protested over the matter with seriousness. They urged the government to boycott all European products.
They said that the government should take the matter up at the United Nations.They said such crimes by the Western countries had been promoting religious extremism. They said that such an international conspiracy against Islam would not be tolerated and urged the Muslims to unite to make their protests effective.
Our Larkana correspondent adds: A protest rally was taken out here on Friday by the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (Fazl) against the blasphemous sketches in a French magazine.The rally was led by Sindh JUI-F secretary-general Rashid Mehmood Soomro.The rally started from the Madarrat-ul-Ishaat on Gajanpur Road, marched through different areas of the city and terminated at the Larkana Press Club.
Meanwhile, the Jamiat Ulema-e-Pakistan, Larkana chapter, also took out a protest demonstration on the call of Allama Shah Muhammad Awais Noorani. Meanwhile, a protest meeting of the religious parties of Larkana against the blasphemous sketches was held on the call of the Jamaat-e-Islami here at its office.
The meeting was attended by Qari Abu Zubair (JI), Maulana Manzoor Ali (JUI-F), Hafiz Dur Muhammad (Jamaat Ahl-e-Sunnat), Bakhat Umerani (PTI), Abdul Rasheed Sangi (PST), Muhammad Usman, Amanullah Bhutto (SUC), Maulana Faizullah Siyal (Jamiat Ahl-e-Hadith), Niaz Ahmed Baloch (KT), Mushtaq Ali Memon (MWM) and others.