Newsgroup: it.politica.internazionale
Titolo: Dialettica democratica in Pakistan

                     *Associated Press/AP Online
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan - A Shiite Muslim cleric was ambushed
Saturday as he drove through the once serene Himalayan tourist
destination of Gilgit, setting off a rampage of sectarian violence
and arson that left at least 11 people dead, including a family of
six that was burned alive in its home.
Pakistan, a key ally in the U.S.-led war on terrorism, has
suffered a wave of attacks blamed on Islamic militants in recent
years, sometimes targeting top government officials and Westerners
but more frequently hitting religious targets.
In October, a suicide bombing at a Shiite mosque killed 31
people in the eastern city of Sialkot. Six days later, a car bombing
at a gathering of Sunni radicals in central Multan killed 40 people.
Authorities imposed an indefinite 24-hour curfew and army
troops patrolled Gilgit to contain the violence, the second bout of
unrest between rival Shiites and Sunnis there in six months.
Residents as far as 30 miles from the town said roads into
Gilgit, home to about 25,000 people, had been blocked.
Police said hundreds of Shiites and Sunnis had clashed,
setting fire to shops, homes and government buildings.
The Associated Press of Pakistan, the state news agency,
reported the immolation deaths of the six family members. Geo
television network said the father was a government forestry
official.
Jamil Ahmed, regional chief administrator, said 11 people
were killed in all. APP reported that 10 other people were injured.
The trouble started when unidentified gunmen shot and
wounded a prominent Shiite cleric, Agha Ziauddin, as he traveled
through the city in a car. His private security guards, one of whom
was killed, fired back, killing at least one attacker. The motive
for the attack on Ziauddin, who was hospitalized in stable
condition, was not known.
Later, the local health chief, Sher Wali - a Sunni - was
shot dead, Ahmed said.
Gilgit, a town set amid steep mountains, about 150 miles
north of the capital, Islamabad, suffered sectarian unrest in June,
when Shiites staged protests, demanding changes in Islamic textbooks
used in state schools.
The protests spiraled into violence that claimed several
lives. Authorities imposed a curfew for 13 days and had to airlift
out some foreign tourists who were stranded in the city.
Although tensions had since eased, some schools have yet to
reopen in the Gilgit area.
About 80 percent of Pakistan's 150 million people are Sunnis
and 17 percent Shiites - although Shiites are in a majority in
Gilgit and some other mountainous northern areas. Most of the
Muslims live together peacefully, but small groups of militants on
both sides stage attacks.
The schism between Sunnis and Shiites dates back to the 7th
century over who was the true heir to the Prophet Mohammed.
Pakistani Information Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed condemned
the killings in Gilgit, saying they were "the work of
terrorists and such people have no religion."
Fearing the unrest could spread to other parts of the
country, the Interior Ministry instructed authorities in each of
Pakistan's four provinces to step up security for Muslim clerics and
at places of worship.
---
Associated Press reporter Munir Ahmad contributed to this
report.

 
Che ca**o c'entra la "dialettica democratica" con atti di criminalita'
lo sa solo il prode Namib.
-Stefano

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