Dozen dead in fresh Quetta firing

 At least 12 people were killed and seven seriously injured after unknown gunslingers riding motorcycles emptied their automatic weapons at a vehicle in Akhtarabad area of Quetta, Geo News reported.

Reportedly around 22 people on board a passenger bus came under fire on their way to Hazar Ganji from Quetta. It’s hard to establish the number of dead/ injured owing to scanty details, but casualties are feared to rise as some of the wounded are in critical condition.

Eyewitnesses say the gunmen stopped the bus, dragged some passengers down and shot them dead following which they opened indiscriminate fire on the bus making more kills.

Police have cordoned off the area and the dead/injured are now being rushed to Combined Military Hospital (CMH) as Bolan Medical Complex to which they were shifted earlier lacked emergency treatment facilities, said last reports.

The attackers made their escape before the police could arrive at the scene. 

Attack on Hazara community in Quetta: 13 dead

QUETTA: At least 13 people of Hazara community were killed and seven seriously injured after unknown gunslingers riding motorcycles emptied their automatic weapons at a bus in Akhtarabad area of Quetta, Geo News reported.

Reportedly around 20-30 people on board a passenger bus came under fire on their way to Hazar Ganji from Quetta. It’s hard to establish the number of dead/ injured owing to scanty details, but casualties are feared to rise as some of the wounded are in critical condition.

Eyewitnesses say the gunmen stopped the bus, dragged some passengers down and shot them dead following which they opened indiscriminate fire on the bus making more kills.

Police have cordoned off the area and the dead/injured are now being rushed to Combined Military Hospital (CMH) as Bolan Medical Complex to which they were shifted earlier lacked emergency treatment facilities, said last reports.

The attackers made their escape before the police could arrive at the scene. Later, some enraged people set the ill-fated bus on fire.

Sectarian killings

EVEN though it was not the first attack on Shia pilgrims in Balochistan, the modus operandi of Tuesday`s cold-blooded murder of 26 bus passengers near Mastung showed a descent into new depths of savagery. The pilgrims, mostly from the Hazara community, were lined up by terrorists who checked their identity cards before mowing them down. An ambulance going to the aid of the victims in Mastung was fired at, killing three people. Lashkar-i-Jhangvi has brazenly claimed responsibility for the two heinous acts. One is appalled by not only the militants` fiendish mindset but also the authorities` failure to provide protection to buses carrying vulnerable pilgrims. What is also cause for regret is the tour operators` indifference to their clients` safety. While it is true that the terrorists are quite capable of meticulous planning and a careful choice of targets, the authorities should have had the common sense to anticipate Wednesday`s killings, given that this was the third such sectarian attack in Balochistan since July. Surely, if an entire community, vulnerable to such attacks, cannot be provided security, there are ways in which safety can be assured for smaller groups, such as pilgrims, likely to be targeted. The obvious measure would be to have well-armed security escorts in vehicles forming a cordon round buses carrying pilgrims. The success of this mode of security was demonstrated in the Hub area in July 2007 when police vans were able to beat back an attack on Chinese engineers and kill many terrorists. Similarly, the tour operators and the security authorities could work out a scheme to have armed guards within the buses.

The fight against Lashkar-i-Jhangvi is part of the country`s larger battle against the Taliban who have declared war on the state and people of Pakistan. The enemy is ruthless and indifferent to human suffering and innocent deaths, and targets school buses, hospitals and funerals without any qualms of conscience. While the government has to operate within the sphere of the law, these constraints should not deter the state in its resolve to stamp out terrorism in all its forms and give protection to the people.

Hazaras: never on the news radar

“My life has turned all topsy turvy and what I’ve gone through only I know,” says 42-year old Tahira, mother of two and wife of the late Dr Abid Iqbal Zaidi, a renowned cardiologist in Quetta. Tahira’s voice is strained as she struggles to keep herself composed.

Exactly two years back, on August 17, 2009, after saying his evening prayers, the 49-year old doctor left, as was his routine, to go to his private clinic located on Fatima Jinnah Road when he was gunned down. Within half an hour, Tahira got the news.

“I raced to the hospital, my 11-year-old son in tow, only to find my husband, lying dead in a pool of blood,” she says and breaks down uncontrollably. Today, every time she steps out of the house, her son looks at her, fear writ all over his pale face and pleads with her not to go. He had seen his father in that condition. “He has become a wreck, poor child.”

Abid’s crime? He belonged to the Shia Hazara community. The banned militant organisation, Laskar-i-Jhangvi (LeJ) claimed responsibility for shooting him, like they have for almost all Hazara killings. In the last one decade, rues ethnic Hazara politician, Abdul Khaliq Hazara, hundreds of people belonging to this ethnic religious minority have been prosecuted in Quetta alone with the state turning a blind eye to the killers. “Those killed have been teachers, students, politicians, doctors and ordinary men, women and children.”

“The systematic elimination of between 400 to 500 Hazaras with over 1,500 having been maimed for life means our people cannot even go to the market to buy groceries. Attending funerals every day is a norm now,” said Khaliq, chairperson of the Hazara Democratic Party. The party’s former chairman was assassinated in 2008 by the LeJ.

Hazaras had fled to Quetta from Afghanistan some 120 years ago, due to atrocities committed against them there. Today the fourth generation considers Pakistan as its home, explains Irfan Ali, a member of the Quetta-based Human Rights Commission for Social Justice and Peace. The population of Hazaras in Pakistan is around 956,000 of which between 500,000 to 600,000 live in Quetta alone.

According to Khaliq, if one compares the killings of Hazaras in Quetta to the recent spate of killing in Karachi, it is “eight or ten-fold higher in Quetta, in proportion to the population of both the cities”. Yet it has failed to move the media or those in seats of power.

“The terrorists have links with the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan and Afghanistan, and thus, with the Al Qaeda,” said Khaliq, adding, “and are given complete protection by the state and its intelligence agencies”. Parliamentarians, law enforcement agencies and top leaders in the government have said ‘their hands are tied’.

Irfan Ali believes there to be a political motive behind this ethnic cleansing where religion is used as a tool. He observed that anti-Shia militants may have links with the Jundullah (also known as the People’s Resistance Movement of Iran), fighting for the rights of the Sunni Muslims in Iran.

“They think Hazaras are pro-Iran and supported by the Iranian government and fear that if they don’t eliminate us here, Pakistan may become a Shia state influenced by Iran,” points out Ali.

In the past five years or so, Amjad Hussain, a Hazara, working for a TV channel, has seen young Hazaras fleeing Quetta. “Many have already fled or are trying to leave, legally or illegally. Australia is their preferred destination,” Hussain told Dawn.

Till 10 years back, Pashtuns, the Baloch, Punjabis, all lived in harmony. Today, he says, there is a stark division and a complete ghettoisation of Quetta drawn on sectarian and ethnic lines. “People are scared of going into each other’s neighbourhoods for fear of being persecuted.”

“Since the first attack on a Hazara back in 1999-2000 to date, not one killer has been prosecuted. Those who are apprehended are always released for lack of evidence,” says Khaliq. —Zofeen T. Ebrahim

SUICIDE BOMBER TURNED GALA EID FEROCIOUS FOR HAZARAS IN QUETTA

Today at about 09:30 hours (PST), the adjacent areas to Alamdar Road jolted heavily due to a suicide bombing, occurring on Major Mohammad Ali Shaheed Road. This resulted in the death of 11 people, including 3 women and 1 minor girl and injuring 22 others. Most injured are said to be children.

Bomb disposal squad has estimated that 40 KG explosive was used, however, the local claimed it to 400 KG.

An eyewitness stated that the suicide bomber’s target was Hazara Eidgaah Alamdar Road where the Eid prayers is organised and attended by thousands of people. “He attempted many times but could not enter the Eidgaah Route due to tight scrutiny, then, he aimed for the adjacent road, known as Major Mohammad Ali Shaheed road and blew himself up near Sardar Mehdi Hasan Musa Girl College”, said Muhammad Hussain.

Muhammad Ali, an eyewitness, expressed his emotions grievously that the government is not taking any serious measures to protect the lives of common people, especially that of the Hazaras who have been the main target of the extremist elements since 1999.

“We have lost over 650 innocent people in an unknown battle so far and the number is increasing. We are really desperate to ask government for our safety as there are elements within the government who are supporting these terrorists”, said another eyewitness.

Chiragh Ali Baig, an eyewitness has reported that the blast was so powerful that left 15 cars completely destroyed, shattering windows of the shops and houses and collapsing the roof of a nearby house.

Hazara Democratic Party, Balochistan Shia Conference, Majlis Wahdat ul Muslimeen, Pashtoonkhawah Milli Awami Party and Jamiat Ullama e Islam have strongly condemned this terrorist attack whereas Majlis Wahdat-ul-Muslimeen and Jafaria Alliance announced a 10-day mourning.

Muhammad Raheem said, “The role of Pakistani Media has been limited in covering these incidents. A red banner is run on TV for a couple of minutes or a three minute news reported runs on TV screen and, then, it all stops until next incident”.

The federal and provincial government have always been condemning these incidents, however, no practical measures have been taken to ensure the life and safety of people. The Provincial Chief Minister – Aslam Raisani’s non-serious attitude towards law and order situation in the Quetta city have many a time hit the headlines. His playful attitude to these questions reflects his credibility to run the government.