Activists of the Ahl-e-Sunnat Wal Jamaat (ASWJ) today staged protests in parts of Pakistan's Punjab province against the killing of a top leader of the right-wing Sunni group.
Shamsur Rehman Mawia, the chief of ASWJ's Punjab chapter, was shot dead by unidentified gunmen in Lahore yesterday. The ASWJ is considered a front for the banned Sipah-e-Sahaba, a notorious anti-Shia group.
A mob shouted slogans outside Governor House and on Mall Road and demanded that Mawia's killers be caught as soon as possible. ASWJ members also protested in Rawalpindi and Sheikhupura.
They blocked the Faisalabad Interchange, the motorway connecting Islamabad and Rawalpindi, Murree Road and Kashmir Highway. Protesters used bricks and sticks to divert traffic, Express News reported.
ASWJ members had last evening rallied at Aabpara Chowk in Islamabad to protest Mawia's killing.
The killing is believed to be linked to recent sectarian clashes between Shias and Sunnis that claimed a dozen lives in Rawalpindi and two northwestern cities.
Mawia had served as a senior leader of Sipah-e-Sahaba, which was outlawed in 2002 by former military ruler Pervez Musharraf. The group subsequently re-emerged with the name ASWJ.
