Enemies of Islam behind Pakistan Shia killings: Iran MPs

Iranian lawmakers have condemned the ongoing killings of Shia Muslims in Pakistan, holding the enemies of Islam responsible for the violence against Pakistani Shias.

A total of 234 members of Iran Majlis (parliament), in a statement released on Sunday, censured the targeted killing of Pakistani Shias.

“The repeated brutal slaying of innocent Pakistani Shias is undoubtedly a plot hatched by the enemies of Islam -- particularly the US, Britain and their regional accomplices -- and undertaken by pseudo-Muslim Takfiri mercenaries,” the statement read.

“Muslim public opinion, especially [that of] the Iranian nation, naturally expects the Pakistani government, parliament and intelligence agencies to counter such anti-human plots targeting Pakistan’s national security.”

The statement added that the silence of international organizations and the states claiming to advocate human rights shows that rights issues have become a political tool in the hands of major powers, such as the US.

On Saturday, Iranian clerics and seminary students strongly condemned the silence of the international community on the massacre of Shia Muslims in terrorist attacks in Pakistan.

All seminaries in Tehran and Qom were closed for one day in protest, with teachers and students taking to the streets to show their outrage.

Shias living in the Kurram Tribal Agency, which is located in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas, have been facing a humanitarian crisis since November 2007, when extremist groups cut off the area from the rest of the country. Local sources say hundreds of Shia Muslims have been killed in Kurram since the start of the campaign.

Shia religious gatherings have also been targeted in various areas of Pakistan over the past few months.