Thousands attend funeral of murdered cleric

Police fired tear gas and shots in the air to disperse angry Sunni Muslims today after thousands of mourners joined the funeral of a prominent pro-Taliban cleric gunned down on a busy Karachi street.

Mufti Jamil and an associate Nazir Ahmed Taunsvi were killed by unidentified gunmen as they drove through the centre of the southern Pakistan city yesterday, triggering riots by followers.

No one claimed responsibility for the attack, but suspicion was likely to fall on minority Shiite militants – amid fears of escalating sectarian violence in Pakistan following two bombings this month which killed more than 70 people.

Some 10,000 mourners gathered at a downtown Islamic seminary where funeral prayers for Jamil were held Sunday amid tight security.

Most mourners then marched with the casket across the city to the burial site, but 300 or 400 people stayed outside the seminary and confronted police, throwing stones and shouting slogans against Shiites and President General Pervez Musharraf – unpopular for his support of the US-led war on terrorism.

Police fired tear gas and two or three shots in the air, and the crowd dispersed.

The body of Taunsvi was to be buried in his hometown in eastern Punjab province.

Pakistan has a history of sectarian violence. While most Sunnis and minority Shiites live peacefully together, militants from both sects stage attacks which risk provoking clashes between the two communities.

During May, the slaying of another Sunni cleric and two bombings of Shiite mosques triggered major riots in Karachi – Pakistan’s largest city and a hotbed of Islamic militancy.

Saturday’s killing prompted unrest by hundreds of Sunnis, who blocked streets with burning tires and set four vehicles alight.

Rauf Siddiqi, home minister of Sindh province, of which Karachi is the capital, said police were questioning witnesses for clues about the killers of Jamil and Taunsvi and would draw sketches of the suspects.

Farid Baloch, a witness, said two men on a motorcycle opened fire on a van the two clerics were travelling in, and fled.

Jamil was known as a pro-Taliban scholar. He was part of a delegation that travelled to Afghanistan after the September 11, 2001, attacks in America to try to persuade Taliban leaders to hand over Osama bin Laden.

Meanwhile, an intelligence official said Sunday more than 125 people with links to outlawed extremist groups were detained for questioning over the weekend in connection with the two bombings this month in Punjab province.

They were picked up in raids on homes, mosques and Islamic seminaries in cities including Multan, Jhang, Lahore and Rawalpindi, the official, based in Multan, said on condition of anonymity. All the detainees were Pakistanis but none of them were senior militant leaders.