E/CN.4/1992/52 page 60 The precious cultural and historical contents of those institutions, including religious and other manuscripts and books, were burnt and destroyed and innocent citizens were subjected to all forms of plunder, murder and sexual assault during those disturbances, which caused widespread devastation and a breakdown of public order and security, as a result of which the lives and property of citizens were threatened. The competent authorities fulfilled their duty by suppressing those disturbances and subversive acts in order to put an end to the state of anarchy, protect public order and security, restore the rule of law and prevent any further violations thereof. Those acts were manifestly instigated by foreign parties outside Iraq, which supplied their perpetrators with funds, weapons and personnel with a view to completing the second phase of the treacherous aggression to which Iraq was subjected, consisting in the destruction of its remaining socio-economic infrastructure. 3. The acts of subversion and aggression continued for several days before the competent official authorities were able to regain control and restore order and security in all aspects of daily life at the locations in which those criminal acts had been committed. In addition to the extensive material damage which they caused, those acts also took a heavy toll of lives among innocent citizens, regardless of their beliefs and religious affiliations, and also among the police and security forces and the subversives and infiltrators themselves. In fact, the subversives converted places of worship and official and religious institutions into headquarters in which they installed their command posts and in which they engaged in the most abominable acts of torture, murder and rape against innocent citizens who refused to collaborate with them. Through their information media and their numerous links with well-known foreign bodies, the parties instigating those acts against the security of Iraq attempted to offset their failure to achieve their objectives, while maintaining their aggressive and iniquitous policy towards Iraq by endeavouring to bring Iraq into disrepute through allegations concerning the so-called 'situation of the Shia Muslim community' in Iraq and the practices and ill-treatment to which they are purportedly being subjected by the Iraqi authorities concerned. 4. In reply to the allegations contained in the annex to your letter, we wish to clarify the following points: (a) The annex alleges that the 'Shia Muslim community in Iraq has been subjected over the past decade to various practices inconsistent with the provisions of the Declaration on the Elimination of All Forms of Intolerance and of Discrimination based on Religion or Belief. The fact that this matter has been raised at the present time indicates an attempt to distort and conceal the truth and draw attention to past periods in which such allegations were not made. (b) At the present time, it should be noted that about 500 persons were killed as a result of aggression and terrorism by saboteurs in the governorates of Karbala and Najaf. Moreover, many of those subversives were also killed or fled during the campaign to remove them from those two governorates.