ISLAMABAD, Jan 16: Maulana Zia-ul-Qasmi, chairman of Supreme Council of Shipah-e-Sahaba Pakistan wants Pakistan to be declared a Sunni state. The leading Sunni leader, in an interview, complained that ``the government gives too much importance to the Shias. They are everywhere, on television, radio, in newspapers and in senior positions. This causes heart burn.''Condemning the Lahore killings of 24 Shias last Sunday, the Maulana dissociated his faction from the Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, a Sunni fanatic outfit in Pakistan Punjab, which claimed the responsibility for the carnage. The Shia fanatic counterpart of Lashkar-e-Jhangvi in the province is Tehrik-e- Jafaria. Following the latest massacre of Shias in Lahore, the Punjab Government is considering a total ban on sectarian parties in the province.The provincial government's proposal came even as police in Lahore cracked down on some of the sectarian organisations active in the area and arrested more than 20 people.Meanwhile, police in helmets and bullet-proof vests, brandishing automatic rifles, stood guard outside Mosques and religious schools on Friday, the Muslim Sabbath, anticipating protest demonstrations by the rival sects reacting to last week's killings.While Pakistan's majority Sunni Muslims have no grudge against their Shiite brethren, militant members of the two are responsible for the cross fire of vicious attacks. Both sects have planned demonstrations - Shiite Muslims to protest the mass killing, Sunnis to protest the arrest of hundreds of their workers and top leaders in connection with the killing. ``We want the Government to release more than 500 of our workers picked up from different parts of the country,'' said Sheikh Hakim Ali, a leader of the militant Sipah-e-Sahabah.Ali's group, which has declared that Shiites as non-Muslims, has been linked to dozens of attacks against Pakistan's minority Shiite community.Grenades have been thrown into mosques, members of rival sects have been pulled off buses and shot, worshippers have been gunned down as they knelt in prayer. ``We will give them protection,'' promised Lahore police Chief Zulfikar Cheema. ``Both religious parties have given their word that their workers will not damage public property and will remain peaceful.'' But the police, though, are not taking any chances. On roof tops in the warren of narrow streets in Pakistan's largest city of Karachi, policemen have taken up positions.Their rifles were trained on mosques in the troubled central and eastern districts where rival Shiite and Sunni Muslims have clashed in the past.
