“As soon as the first blast occurred, I turned to my guys and said, ‘Okay, be careful, watch out for a second one,’” recalls a Lahore resident who was outside Karbala Gamay Shah on Wednesday evening. He was right. Soon there was a second blast. They were trying to leave the area when the third bomb exploded. “We weren’t expecting the third one.” They were untouched by the final suicide bomber, but it was that final explosion that did the most damage, killing and injuring scores of innocent people. The 60-year-old man, who has requested to remain anonymous to protect the privacy and safety of his family, has been taking part in Shia processions in the walled city for decades. Besides Moharram, he and members of his extended family have been devoutly marking the death anniversary of Hazrat Ali (PBUH) during Ramadan for just as long. In fact, there is a long history of public processions in Lahore.

The amalgamated name for the Karbala Gamay Shah imambargah is derived from two sources: the area in present-day Iraq where Imam Hussain (PBUH) was martyred plus the name of Baba Syed Ghulam Ali Shah (Gamay Shah), a Sufi who lived in Lahore at the beginning of the 18th century. He was fastidious and regular with his mourning: he would walk around the walled city, carrying a taziah on his head, mourning for the family of the grandson of the Prophet (PBUH).

As sectarian violence and threats against the Shia community have grown over the years, so has security for these religious events in Lahore. It has become increasingly difficult to protect the public, and law-enforcement agencies are not happy about. “For years, they have been telling us to stop,” says the devout Shia man. “The government will use this tragedy as the reason to shut us down.”

It’s very possible. A day after the Lahore sectarian attack, Pakistan’s Interior Minister, Rehman Malik, publicly said that the Shia community should not have public processions near markets or in the streets, and should hold their mourning programmes indoors. “How can police provide security to a gathering of 15,000 people?” asked the minister during a media scrum in Islamabad.

He’s right. They can’t provide foolproof protection. The anonymous source who spoke to Newsline said that the police actually had information about something insidious being afoot. “They approached us on Wednesday morning and told us to be vigilant. They had received intelligence reports about something being planned.” In fact, the source claims that the police believed the terrorists had already infiltrated the area days before in preparation for the attack.

Armed with this information, law-enforcement personnel were still unable to do much. It shows once again that protecting the public against terror attacks is nearly impossible: how do you stop someone who is willing to blow himself up without warning?

There is no end in sight for the sectarian violence that continues to deepen many of the rifts in the country. It has metastasised across the nation. Three cities have seen violence against Shia mourners in as many days: Lahore and Karachi on Wednesday, and a gruesome strike in Quetta on Friday where over 50 people were killed and 197 injured.

A Dawn editorial from September 3 said this:

“The Shia community must also accept the fact that local administrations, inept or otherwise, cannot go it alone in preventing attacks on its members. Community volunteers are already doing a commendable job manning entrance points to various imambargahs and conducting security checks on those who wish to enter. Worshippers do not mind this frisking because it is carried out by their own. Perhaps it is time that such checks, though admittedly a far more testing task, were replicated at checkpoints along procession routes because the police are naturally hesitant to offend anyone’s religious sensibilities. In short, this is a joint struggle and everyone must be on board.”

But is that enough? Or should large public processions by the Shia community be banned like the interior minister is hinting at?

Have your say: vote in the poll below.

Should public processions by the Shia community be banned from happening in city streets and market areas in the name of public safety?

• No. Everyone has the right to assembly and practice their faith in peace. (48%, 152 Votes)
• Yes. In fact, ban all public religious processions by all groups, period. No exceptions for anyone.(40%, 128 Votes)
• Yes. Shias will be always a target and as such their events put too many people at risk. (7%, 21 Votes)
• Yes. But so should all processions and large public events by other religious minorities. (6%, 20 Votes)
• Undecided. (0%, 11 Votes)

Total Voters: 317