A Pakistani counter—terrorism police officer says several Sunni and Shia Muslim leaders have been detained in a probe over recent sectarian attacks in the southern port city of Karachi.
Junaid Sheikh said on Monday that Faisal Raza Abidi, a former outspoken anti-Taliban Shia lawmaker from Pakistan’s liberal People’s Party, is among those facing questioning.
Mr. Sheikh says the police and Pakistan’s paramilitary forces have raided both Sunni and Shia religious seminaries over the last two days, detaining an unspecified number of people.
Sunni and Shia activists have rallied in Karachi, protesting against the raids.
Pakistan’s Sunni militants, many affiliated with the Taliban and al-Qaeda, have long targeted minority Shias, considering them to be heretics.
The police suspect some of Karachi’s recent sectarian killings of Sunnis could be Shia militants’ work.
