Islamabad, Nov 16: Outraged at the government's decision to ban three militant outfits, including a Shia group and arrest of its leader, Pakistan's Islamist parties today said that they would initiate a legal action and launch agitation to secure the release of the detained leader. Six-party Islamist Alliance Muttahida Majlis-e Amal (MMA) would initiate legal action and launch a protest movement to oppose the arrest of Shia leader Allam Sajid Naqvi, senior MMA leader and chief of Jamat Islami, Qazi Hussain Ahmad, said.

He alleged that arrest of Naqvi was aimed at furthering the divisions between the Sunnis and Shias.

Naqvi, leader of the Islami Tehrik Pakistan (ITP), was arrested last night by police in Rawalpindi after his politico-religious party was banned under the anti-terrorism act.
Pakistan government also last night banned Millat-e-Islamiya and Khudam-e-Islam led by maulana masood azhar and placed the Jamat ud Dawa, the parent unit of the Lashkar-e-Toiba on the 'watch list'.

Naqvi previously lead the Tehrick-e-Jafriay, a Shia militant party and later renamed it as ITP after President Pervez Musharraf banned it last year.

Condemning Naqvi's arrest, Hussain said that MMA was successful in bringing down the differences between Sunni and Shia sects and projected them as part of Islam. "Naqvi's arrest was an attempt to creating a wedge," he told the Pakistan TV, Geo Today.
Bureau Report