Execution triggers violent clashes

At least one person is dead and many others injured after clashes triggered by the execution of a Sunni Muslim activist in Pakistan, news organisations reported on Thursday. Haq Nawaz was hanged early on Wednesday morning at Mainwali jail in Punjab province for the killing 10 years ago of Sadiq Ganji, the director of the Iranian Cultural Centre in Lahore. His body was later released to relatives for burial but a large crowd, waiting for the return of his body, clashed with police outside Nawaz's house, according to news reports. Police used use bullets and teargas to keep control. Several hundred supporters of the militant group to which Nawaz belonged, Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistan (SSP), were taken into custody in advance of the execution in what authorities said was an effort to prevent wide scale protests. Security measures throughout Pakistan were tightened ahead of the hanging. Ganji was the first prominent Shi'a Muslim from Iran to be killed in violence between Shi'as and Sunnis which began around two decades ago and has so far resulted in around 1,000 deaths. Since then, several Iranian Shi'as have been murdered in sectarian attacks that have been blamed on the hardline Sunni SSP. The violence has at times severely strained Islamabad's relations with Tehran. Nawaz was one of the first SSP members to face the gallows. Pakistan's military government refused to commute his sentence, stressing that it was determined to prevent what it says are extremist groups from wielding too much influence in Pakistan.