Ashura commemorates the killing of the Prophet Muhammad’s grandson Hussein at the Battle of Karbala in 680 AD — the defining moment of the religion’s schism and the birth of Shiite Islam.
Friday’s demonstration saw thousands of protesters rally near the tomb of the country’s founder — Muhammad Ali Jinnah — where participants chanted “infidels” and “God is the greatest.”
“We will not tolerate any more defamation,” said Qari Usman from the Islamist Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam political party during a speech.
Pockets of demonstrators held banners of the extremist anti-Shiite group Sipah-e-Sahaba, which has been linked to the killing of hundreds of Shiites over the years.
Blasphemy is a hugely sensitive issue in conservative Pakistan where laws can carry the death penalty for anyone deemed to have insulted Islam or Islamic figures.
Even unproven allegations have led to mob lynchings and vigilante murders.
Sectarian violence has erupted in fits and bursts for decades in Pakistan, with homegrown anti-Shiite militant groups bombing shrines and targeting Ashura processions.
Thousands were killed in the previous decade sparking a fierce crackdown by security forces in 2015 which resulted in a dramatic drop in sectarian violence.
The crackdown culiminated in July 2015 when Malik Ishaq — the chief of the banned militant group Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LeJ) — was killed in a firefight with police along with 13 fellow militants.
The shootout wiped out much of the top leadership of LeJ, a driving force in the violence targeting Shiites, who make up around 20 percent of Pakistan’s 220 million population.
Karachi — Pakistan’s largest city which is also a major business and industrial hub — was once rife with political, sectarian, and ethnic militancy with thousands killed.
However a years-long operation by security forces starting in 2013 has brought a considerable lull in the violence — but scattered attacks still take place.Sea of people at Anti-Shia protest jolts Pakistan's Karachi
The rally followed a raft of blasphemy accusations against major Shiite leaders in Pakistan after a televised broadcast of an Ashura procession last month showed clerics and participants allegedly making disparaging remarks about historic Islamic figures.
During the rally, the participant chanted hate slogans, such as ‘Shia kafir’ against the members of the Shia community and demanded a ban on Muharram processions.Sources revealed that an imam bargah in the Imamia Lines Area was also allegedly attacked by the members of the radical Sunni parties.
Since the start of Muharram, there has been an increase in hate campaigns against Shia groups and subsequent blasphemy allegations for reciting Ziyarat-e-Ashura — a prayer that denounces the killers of Imam Hussain.
Sectarian violence has erupted in fits and bursts for decades in Pakistan, with homegrown anti-Shia militant groups bombing shrines and targeting Ashura processions.
Thousands were killed in the previous decade sparking a fierce crackdown by security forces in 2015 which resulted in a dramatic drop in sectarian violence.
Thousands were killed in the previous decade sparking a fierce crackdown by security forces in 2015 which resulted in a dramatic drop in sectarian violence.
