Shiite Muslims riot during cleric's funeral

Updated Sat. Jul. 15 2006 11:57 PM ET

Associated Press

KARACHI, Pakistan -- Hundreds of youths set fire to a Pizza Hut, two gas stations and a dozen vehicles in Pakistan's biggest city Saturday after a funeral for a Shiite Muslim cleric killed in a suicide attack.

Rioters rampaged through a busy commercial area of Karachi a day after a suicide bomber killed cleric Allama Hassan Turabi, his cousin and a police guard.

Police fired shots in the air, swung batons and used tear gas to control the crowd.

Hours earlier, Turabi was buried at a city cemetery after more than 8,000 people, beating their chests with their hands as a sign of grief, packed the city streets for his funeral.

Most of the crowd dispersed peacefully after the ceremony but a gang of youths damaged shops and torched a Pizza Hut, two state-owned gas stations and several vehicles, apparently expressing general anger at the U.S. and Pakistani governments.

Turabi's son denounced the violence.

"My father always advocated for peace and sectarian harmony and those people who torched cars and shops have no links to my father's party,'' Murtaza Turabi said after the funeral.

He said his father's assassination was a "conspiracy to pit Shiites and Sunnis against each other'' and he demanded punishment for those behind the suicide attack.

Pakistan is a key U.S. ally in what Washington calls the war on terror. Many Shiites identify Pizza Hut with the U.S. administration and have burned the chain's outlets after previous attacks on their leaders.

Pakistan has been plagued for years by attacks blamed on extremist elements among the Sunni and Shiite sects of Islam, targeting places of worship and religious leaders. The attacks often lead to rioting.

About 80 per cent of Pakistan's 150 million people are Sunni; most of the rest are Shiite. The majority live together in peace.

The weekend violence came despite top Shiite clerics' appeals for calm.

Senior police official Mushtaq Shah said hundreds of police fanned out across Karachi after riots that started Friday night, when youths smashed a bank and some shops and began arson attacks.

"We are avoiding the use of force and trying to control situation with help from Shiite clerics,'' he said.

Karachi is about 1,200 kilometres northeast of the capital Islamabad.

Turabi, who narrowly escaped an attempt on his life in April, led a Shiite party called Islamic Tehreek Pakistan and was a provincial chief for the hardline opposition Islamic coalition Mutahida Majlis-e-Amal, also called MMA, or United Action Forum.