Jamiat Ulema Isna Asharia Kargil-Ladakh condemns attack on Shias in Pakistan, pitches for opening Kargil-Skardu Road

Ladakh [India], May 5 : In view of the recent attack on a school in Parachinar Pakistan targeting the minority Shia community and killing of 7 Shia teachers, Jamiat Ulema Isna Asharia Kargil (JUAIK) Ladakh called a press conference and condemned the attack on Shia minorities in Pakistan.

The press conference was addressed by President JUAIK Ladakh, Sheikh Nazir Mehdi Mohammadi who said that the persecution of Shia Muslims of Pakistan is not a new thing whether its Quetta or any other place, the killers of Shias are known and roaming free.

He further said that when the Foreign Minister of Pakistan, Bilawal Bhutto Zardari is in India to attend SCO Summit it's their demand to the External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar to take up the issue with his counterpart and urged them to take action against those terrorists.

According to local police, unidentified gunmen shot the teachers in the staffroom of Government High School Tari Mangal, as per news report. All the teachers were present in the building and were carrying out their exam duties at the time of the incident. The authorities have imposed emergency in all the hospitals in the region.

In another incident in the Parachinar region of Upper Kurram, a teacher was killed while he was travelling in a car on Shalozan Road. The incident took the total number of teachers killed in a day to eight. According to the police, the teacher, Mohammad Sharif, who was killed inside the car, belonged to the same school.

After the incident, the ongoing matriculation exams, which began on April 28, were postponed until further notice. The police have launched a search for the killers. However, the police have not been able to track the killers so far, Geo News reported.

Sheikh Nazir said that the people of Gilgit-Baltistan in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir, are also protesting against land grabbing and illegal taxation. They are also demanding the opening of the Kargil-Skardu Road.

JUAIK extended full solidarity with the protesters and endorsed the demand for the opening of the Kargil-Skardu Road.

"We hope the Government of India will respect the aspiration of the people of Ladakh and find out some solutions to opening these traditional routes of Kargil-Skardu, Turtuk-Khapolu and Goltari-Drass," said Sheikh Nazir.

Meanwhile talking to the media, prominent political activist Sajjad Kargili said that Takfiri terrorism is a global threat and the world community must unitedly root out the entity of this Ideology.

Takfir is an accusation of unbelief or a declaration of apostasy which leads to the ex-communication of another Muslim. It is the practice of one Muslim declaring another Muslim as an infidel, which some extremist groups use to prescribe the death penalty for apostates.

"The incident of Parachinar is just an example, we have seen such incidents in DI Khan, Hangu, Quetta and Chilas in the past too. The culprits of Chilas are still not arrested, terrorism must be eradicated from the page of history," he added.

Meanwhile, he also appealed to EAM Jaishankar to take up the issue of Shia killings in Pakistan with the Pakist Foreign Minister, Bilawal who is in India these days.

He also demanded the opening of the Kargil-Skardu road and the opening of Shiekh Ali Brolmo's mausoleum just across the border in Kargil.

Sajjad Kargili said that the people of Gilgit Baltistan are struggling for land rights, illegal taxation and the opening of traditional routes, which he strongly supports.