Shia groups in Valley protest Najaf siege

Several villagers from Shia-dominated areas today came out in protest against the ‘‘US siege’’ of the Imam Ali shrine in...

Several villagers from Shia-dominated areas today came out in protest against the ‘‘US siege’’ of the Imam Ali shrine in Najaf.

A small group of agitators shouted anti-Bush slogans as they tried to break a police cordon in front of the United Nations Military Observers’ Office here. ‘‘Americans should go back. The desecration of the holy shrine cannot be tolerated,’’ said a demonstrator. The J-K police arrested around two dozen youth and dispersed the crowd before the protestors could submit a memorandum.

The biggest demonstration came from Budgam, which houses the largest Shia community in Kashmir. Carrying placards, banners and portraits of Iran’s Imam Khomeini and Iraqi cleric Agha Sistani, young men wearing black headbands gathered in the main chowk early this morning. The procession then winded down several streets with protesters raising anti-Bush slogans. ‘‘We are extremely concerned about the safety of our holy sites in Iraq. They (the US) are committing the worst type of human rights abuses in Najaf,” said Agha Syed Hadi of Anjuman-e-Shari Shiyan, the largest non-political Shia body in the Valley.

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