KARACHI: Demonstrations and rallies were held across the province on Friday, similar to other major cities in the country, to condemn the attack on a convoy of passenger vehicles in Lower Kurram that resulted in the deaths of at least 42 people.

The Majlis Wahdat-iMuslimeen Pakistan (MWM) central chairman Allama Raja Nasir Abbas Jafri had announced a three-day mourning across the country while the party held protest rallies and demonstrations in Karachi, Hyderabad and Sukkur where leaders strongly condemned the Parachinar tragedy.

In Karachi, MWM leaders Allama Baqir Abbas Zaidi, Allama Sadiq Jafri, Allama Mubashir Hassan, Maulana Ali Anwar, Maulana Nishan Haider and other scholars and leadersaddressedtheprotest demonstration outside the Jamia Masjid Khoja Athana Ashri Kharadar, while hundreds of protesters participated in the rallies taken out from Jamia Masjid Darbar Hussaini in Malir, Jamia Masjid Abul Fazl in Lanhdi, Jamia Masjid Jafaria in North Karachi and Jamia Masjid Haideri Orangi Town after Friday prayers.

The speakers expressed their grief over the loss of precious lives due to the terrorist attack on passenger buses going from Parachinar to Peshawar and termed it a national tragedy.

Allama Ahmed Iqbal Rizvi said that the terrorist attacks on passenger buses in the presence of security agencies were a well-planned conspiracy.

`This is not the first incident of terrorism in Parachinar,` he said, adding that the killing of innocent people had been going on in Kurram Agency for a long time.

He said that Kurram Agency was constantly targeted by ISIS, Taliban, and internal Khawarij terrorists. `The occurrence of terrorist incidents in the presence of a security convoy is the incompetence of the national security institutions,` he claimed.

Addressing the protesters at Jamia Masjid Noor Iman, Allama Baqir Abbas Zaidi said that the federal government should declare the martyrdomof innocent citizens as a national tragedy and declare a day of mourning at the national level.

He said that the passengers who went missing in the incident should be recovered as soon as possible. He demanded immediate arrest of the culprits involved in the act.

Protests in many other cities, towns A large number of people took part in widespread protests held in different cities and towns of Hyderabad, Sukkur, Shikarpur, Jacobabad, KandhkotKashmore, Ghotki, Mirpurkhas,Sanghar, Shaheed Benazirabad, Tharparkar, Umerkot and other districts to condemn the attack.

The protests were led by local leaders and activists of the MWM, SUC and JAF.

In Sukkur, a large number of emotionally charged people gathered outside the city`s central Imambargah along the Military Road after Juma prayers and raised slogans against the killing of innocent men, women and children.

They demanded immediate arrest and exemplary punishment to the terrorists.

In Jacobabad, protesters marched through differentroads and streetsbefore holding a noisy demonstration and a sitin outside the local press club to condemn the `massacre`.

Allama Maqsood Ali Domki, Syed Kamran Shah, Nazeer Jafferì and others, addressing the protesters said that the incident was `a massacre of humanity` and `naked terrorism` They regretted that institutions had miserably failed to maintain law and order in the country as terrorists were playing with the lives of innocent people every day.

They warned that the scope of the protest would be expanded if all the terrorists involved inthe attack were not arrested and taken to task immediately.

In Kandhkot, a similar protest was led by Allama Adab Hussain Najafi, Jamil Sajidi, Mir Faig Ali Khan Jakhrani, Faqir Nazeer Ahmad Mirani, Nadeem Bazmi, Zahoor Mehdi, Raja Sanjrani, Farman Ali Al Hussaini and others. The participants took out a procession from Madrasah Irshad alSaglain Imambargah and marched up to the local press club raising slogans against the brutality.

Protest rallies were held in many other cities and towns of almost all districts in Sindh.