New Delhi:
Scores of men forced their way into the United States Consulate in Pakistan’s Karachi on Sunday, tensions escalated in the Middle East amid US-Israel-Iran attacks and the death of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was announced.
Visuals showed police clashing with protesters on the street outside the consulate. While protesters threw stones, police fired tear gas in an attempt to disperse them. Another video showed scores of men inside the gate compound of the consulate, trying to break glasses of windows and doors to enter the main building. Some portions of the building were allegedly set on fire.
The Iranian Embassy in Pakistan issued a statement condemning the “cowardly, hideous and barbaric terrorist act of targeting” the leader. It remembered Khamenei’s devotion to the “ideals of independence, dignity, and resistance”.
Anger over the death of Khamenei, a prominent Shia leader, in the holy month of Ramzan spread from the Middle East to Asia. In Iraq’s Baghdad too, protesters stormed the US Embassy as security forces tried to disperse them using tear gas.
In India, people in Jammu and Kashmir and Lucknow protested Ayatollah’s killing, with prominent Shia cleric Maulana Yasub Abbas terming it “very unfortunate” for the global community. “Large-scale protests and demonstrations will be carried out at Lucknow’s Imambara at 8.30 pm. All India Shia Personal Law Board has announced a mourning period of three days, when we all will wear black clothes and put up black flags at our houses,” he told ANI.
In J&K, protests were witnessed in Srinagar, Budgam, Bandipora, Anantnag and Pulwama, with Chief Minister Omar Abdullah appealing for calm. “We must also ensure that those who are mourning in Jammu and Kashmir are allowed to grieve peacefully. The police and administration should exercise utmost restraint and refrain from using force or restrictive measures,” he added.
The Embassy of Iran in India termed the Supreme Leader’s killing an “unforgiveable crime”. It added, “The Embassy of the Islamic Republic of Iran in India calls upon independent and freedom-seeking governments around the world to strongly condemn this blatant crime and to refrain from remaining silent in the face of lawlessness and aggression.”
