Islamabad — Pakistani authorities imposed a three-day curfew in the northern cities of Gilgit and Skardu early Monday after several people were killed and dozens injured in violent protests following the killing of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in US-Israeli strikes, officials said.
Thousands of Shia protesters on Sunday stormed the offices of the UN Military Observer Group monitoring a ceasefire along the disputed Himalayan region of Kashmir and the UN Development Program in the city of Skardu. Officials said protesters torched a police station and damaged a school and the offices of a local charity in Gilgit. At least 12 people were killed and 80 injured in the Gilgit-Baltistan region.
Protesters broke out near the UNMOGIP field station, which was vandalized, UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said on Monday. “The safety and security of UN personnel and premises throughout the region remains our top priority and we will continue to monitor the situation closely,” Dujarric said.
Meanwhile, Gilgit-Baltistan government spokesperson Shabir Mir said on Monday that the situation was under control and the curfew would remain in effect till Wednesday. Police chief Akbar Nasir Khan urged residents to stay indoors, citing “deteriorating law and order conditions”.
Protesters stormed the US consulate in Pakistan’s southern port city of Karachi on Sunday, breaking windows and trying to set the building on fire. Police responded with batons, tear gas and gunfire, killing 10 people and injuring more than 50 others. One person was also killed in clashes during an attempted Shia march towards the US embassy in Islamabad.
The US Embassy and its consulates in Karachi and Lahore canceled visa appointments and American civil services on Monday, citing security concerns. Pakistani authorities have beefed up security at US diplomatic missions across the country, including the US consulate building in Peshawar, to avoid any further violence.
On Monday, the Pakistan Stock Exchange fell, with the benchmark KSE-100 index falling nearly 10% amid rising geopolitical tensions following the attack on Iran. Investors sold stocks across sectors, with analysts citing uncertainty as the main driver behind the sharp decline.
Anger has been rising in Pakistan, particularly among members of the Shiite minority, since US and Israeli strikes on Iran killed Khamenei and other senior officials. While Shias are a minority nationwide, they are a majority in some northern districts and in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province bordering Afghanistan.
Sunday’s unrest came amid ongoing cross-border fighting between Pakistan and Afghanistan, which began on Thursday after Afghanistan launched attacks in retaliation for Pakistan’s airstrikes the previous Sunday. After this, Pakistan has repeatedly conducted operations on the border.
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Associated Press writers Riyaz Khan and Rasul Dawar in Peshawar, Pakistan, and Jamie Keaton in Geneva contributed to this report.
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