Hawzah News Agency- (Karachi, Pakistan) The demonstrators gathered outside Khoja mosque after Friday prayers. Pakistani pilgrims are coming back from Iraq’s Karbala, where they had traveled by land for ceremonies held in the martyrdom anniversary of Imam Hussein, the 3rd imam of Shia Muslims.

In mid-October, millions of pilgrims from all around the world gathered in Karbala, where the holy shrine of Imam Hussein is located.

The Pakistani protesters also called on the government to protect the Shia community against targeted killings carried out by militants.

The demonstration in Karachi was held a couple of days after a bomb attack at a Shia mosque in the city’s densely populated Liaquatabad district, where a child was killed and dozens of other people were injured.

Sectarian, political and ethnic violence in Karachi has claimed the lives of hundreds of people over the past years. Pakistan’s Shia leaders have called on the government to bring to justice those behind the targeted killings.

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