Rawalpindi: Punjab govt appeals residents to stay at home

RAWALPINDI: Punjab government has appealed the citizens of Rawalpindi to remain inside their homes as there was no relaxation in the curfew, Geo News reported.

Punjab government spokesman said besides curfew section 144 is also imposed in the city.

The spokesman further said no one is allowed to hold public gathering in Liaquat Bagh and other areas where curfew has been imposed.

Authorities imposed a curfew in the city of Rawalpindi, where sectarian clashes on Friday left nine people dead and more than 60 injured, and spawned retaliatory violence in at least two other cities.

Sources said that the administration was making efforts to calm the situation down with the help of Ulema (religious clerics) and other notables.

AFP adds: Pakistan called in its army Saturday to quell sectarian unrest in three cities, after nine people were killed in violent attacks, according to officials.

Fighting erupted in the garrison-city, which neighbours the capital Islamabad, when a procession coincided with a sermon at a nearby mosque.

"A curfew has been imposed in Rawalpindi city to avert further violence following the incidents on Friday," Waseem Ahmed, a police official told AFP.

"The curfew will remain until midnight on Saturday. The whole city has been closed down," he said.

Deeba Shehnaz, a spokeswoman for rescue services, told AFP: "According to the latest figures, we can now confirm the death of nine people from the sectarian violence on Friday. At least 68 others were wounded during the clashes."

Angry protesters attacked the mosque and seminary, torching its building and an adjacent cloth market, where workers on Saturday were still battling to extinguish the fire completely.

Rival groups then attacked each other, TV cameramen and security forces and also fired gunshots.

The authorities deployed large numbers of troops in the city and later imposed a full curfew as soldiers patrolled the streets to stop protesters coming in from other cities.
Violence also erupted in the southern city of Multan and Chishtian town, where civil authorities called in troops to maintain law and order.

All entry points into Rawalpindi were blocked, resulting in traffic chaos on Saturday morning that choked parts of the highways leading to Islamabad.3

Shahbaz Sharif, the chief minister of Punjab province, of which Rawalpindi is a major city, told an official meeting following the clashes that the government ensured the culprits for the clash are brought to justice.

"We condemn the act of violence in Rawalpindi and sympathise with the aggrieved families. We will take the culprits to the task," he said in his statement.

But one local legislator, Sheikh Rashid Ahmed, who is a member of the lower house of the parliament from the area said that violence there was the result of local administration's failure.

"I declare the local administration responsible for Friday's violent acts. They failed to control the situation," Ahmed told a news conference.