Pakistani PM Orders Strict Action Against Miscreants

Islamabad, Nov 17, IRNA – Prime Minister, Nawaz Sharif has stressed that miscreants responsible for firing incidents in Rawalpindi should be failed in their nefarious designs of creating discord in the society. Officials say eleven people were killed and dozens more were injured in firing incidents in Rawalpindi in Punjab province on Friday evening. Curfew was clamped in the city hours after the firing incidents and troops were deployed to restore normalcy. The authorities extended curfew for another 24 hours in view of tension in the city abd all roads to Rawalpindi have been blocked. Prime Minister Sharif, who is currently in Sri Lanka, in a telephone conversation with Chief Minister of Punjab province Shehbaz Sharif was briefed about the measures taken by the government to defuse the tension in the area, an official statement said. Authorities Sunday temporarily blocked cellular phone service in the capital Islamabad over security concerns, officials said. The phone service was shut down as officials fear backlash of the Friday’s violence. Troops were also deployed in Multan, a major city in eastern Punjab province, on Saturday after one person died in a sectarian-motivated firing incident. The government has sought help from religious leaders to maintain sectarian harmony in Pakistan, which also faces terrorism and violent extremism./end