Thousands of followers of Sufi Islam staged a rally in Lahore on Sunday to condemn militancy and attacks on shrines, police said. "More than 10,000 people participated in the rally," senior police officer Mustansar Bajwa told AFP. Chanting slogans against terrorism, the demonstrators called for peace in the country, which has been troubled by bombings and suicide attacks.
The demonstrators marched from the Punjab provincial assembly building to Data Darbar shrine, amid a heavy police presence, witnesses said.
The rally was called by the Pakistan Awami Tehreek party, representing Sufi Islam. "Islam is religion of peace and acts of terrorism and bloodshed are against its teachings," the party's local chief Raheek Abbasi told the rally.
He urged the government to "improve resources and provide jobs and justice to the people to end the menace."
The protest came three days after a bomb blast near a shrine in Lahore killed two people and wounded more than a dozen worshippers.
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