Grand Ayatollah condemns world silence on Pakistan Shia killings

A senior Iranian cleric has condemned the international organizations’ silence over a deadly attack in northern Pakistan that left at least 18 Shia Muslims dead last week. Addressing a group of seminary students in the holy Iranian city of Qom on Saturday, Grand Ayatollah Nasser Makarem-Shirazi expressed deep sorrow over the massacre of Pakistani Shia Muslims by Wahhabi-minded terrorists, and strongly criticized the silence of international organizations over the incident. “Wahhabism has no place in the Muslim world because their thirst for blood has resulted in innocents being sprayed with bullets and [innocents being] martyred,” said the Grand Ayatollah. Last Tuesday, gunmen disguised in military fatigues flagged down buses on Karakoram Highway, climbed on board asking the passengers whether they were Shia or Sunni Muslim, dragging out 18 Shia Pakistanis and shooting them. Another eight people were injured in the attack, including two women and three children. Jundallah terrorist group claimed responsibility for the attack through its commander Ahmed Marwat. The Grand Ayatollah criticized the Pakistani government and international human rights organizations for failure to condemn the attack on Shia Muslims in northern Pakistan, calling for the prosecution of the perpetrators of the crime.