Shia Rights Watch, affiliated with the World Foundation of Grand Ayatollah Sayyid Sadiq Husseini Shirazi, may Allah prolong his life, issued a statement condemning the terrorist attack on a Shia mosque in Pakistan. The text of the statement is as follows:

In the Name of Allah, the Most Compassionate, the Most Merciful

With deep sorrow and profound grief, we received the news of the horrific crime and treacherous terrorist attack against innocent worshippers at the Mosque of Lady Khadijah Al-Kubra (P.B.U.H.) in Islamabad, the capital of Pakistan. This brutal assault resulted in the martyrdom and injury of a number of innocent people inside one of the houses of Allah.

Shia Rights Watch strongly condemns this cowardly and criminal act and considers it a new chapter in the series of organized and systematic attacks against the followers of Ahlul Bayt (P.B.U.T.) in Pakistan, as well as a clear threat to civil peace and social coexistence.

Our demands and official position regarding this dangerous escalation of tension are focused on the following points:

Full acceptance of responsibility: We hold the Pakistani authorities legally and morally fully responsible for this grave security failure. Any negligence in protecting citizens and religious sites is considered an unacceptable dereliction of duty.

Immediate provision of protection: We call on the government and security services of Pakistan to take urgent and decisive measures to ensure the safety of mosques, Husseiniyahs, and Shia-populated areas, and to guarantee that such tragedies are not repeated.

Prosecution of the perpetrators: We demand transparent and swift investigations to uncover those who planned and carried out this crime, to bring them to justice, and to uproot the sources of takfiri ideology that incite violence.

The stance of the international community: We urge international and human rights organizations to break their silence regarding the targeting and destruction of Shias in Pakistan, and to pressure the Pakistani government to fulfill its international obligations in protecting religious minorities.

Targeting worshippers while they are in prostration before Almighty Allah represents the height of moral corruption and spiritual decay, and is a desperate attempt to intimidate believers and sow sectarian discord, serving only the interests of the enemies of humanity.

We extend our deepest condolences and sincere sympathy to the families of the martyred victims, and we ask Almighty Allah to grant them abundant mercy, to bestow swift recovery upon the injured, and to grant patience and endurance to their families.

Shia Rights Watch - Washington