Violent Sunni group thwarts peace talks

ISLAMABAD, May 6: As Pakistan's religious leaders sat at the negotiation table to try to stop religiously motivated killings, two more Shii...

ISLAMABAD, May 6: As Pakistan8217;s religious leaders sat at the negotiation table to try to stop religiously motivated killings, two more Shiite Muslims were gunned down, news reports said today.

Late last night Shiite religious leader, Shukar Din, was sitting in his home in the eastern Punjab capital of Lahore when two men knocked at his door looking for a glass of water.

As his friend went to get the water the men opened fire with automatic rifles killing Din, according to the state-run news agency Associated Press of Pakistan APP.

About 120 km away in Faisalabad, also in Punjab province, another Shiite Muslim was killed by three gunmen.

Sheikh Mohammed Irshad was outside his tiny shop in a congested lane of Faisalabad last night when three men on a motorcycle roared past. The opened fire and Irshad died immediately, the APP reported.

The latest deaths brings to 17 the number of religiously motivated killings since April 28 when the Punjab provincial government launched a crackdown on one of Pakistan8217;s most militant Sunni Muslim groups, the Guardians of the Friends of the Prophet.

Most of the dead have been members of Pakistan8217;s minority Shiite Muslim sect of Islam. Although no one has taken responsibility for the killings and few arrests have been made, police blame militant Sunni Muslims, who revile Shiite Muslims as non-Muslims.

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The Guardians of the Friends of the Prophet accuse Iran, which is a mostly Shiite, of arming and financing Shiite militants in Pakistan. As the Islamic holy month of Ramazan approaches, the authorities in Pakistan fear an upsurge in violence against Shiites who spend this month mourning the death of the grandson of Islam8217;s Prophet, Mohammed.

In an attempt to curb the violence between militant members of the two sects, representatives of 15 different religious groups met at a government guest house in Lahore yesterday.

A code of conduct emerged from the meeting according to the independent newspaper The News. The code of conduct demands that religious parties honour the beliefs of other sects, avoid criticising rival sects, stop preaching or issuing fatwas edicts against other sects.

While most Pakistanis are Sunni Muslims, they generally get along with their Shiite brethren.

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Since the latest round of violent attacks most often against Shiite Muslims, government officials have begun publicly contemplating banning sectarian parties, although no decision has been made. Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif warned of tougher laws during a meeting of parliamentarians yesterday in the federal capital.