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Target killings: Seven Hazaras, one police official killed in Quetta
The first incident took place on Brewery road where a group of armed men ambushed a taxi, killing six people.
An injured man walks past a burning car after in Quetta on April 14, 2012. PHOTO: AFP
QUETTA: Violence continued to plague Quetta as eight more people were gunned down in separate firing incidents in parts of the city on Saturday. Seven of those killed were members of the Hazara community.
A complete shutter down strike was being observed in the provincial capital on a call given by the Hazara Democratic Party (HDP).
The first incident took place on Brewery Road where a group of armed men ambushed a taxi carrying people from the Hazara community. Resultantly, all six died on the spot and the assailants managed to flee from the scene.
“The victims were on their way to Killi Ibraimzai from Hazara Town when they were attacked. It is a case of sectarian targeted killing,” Deputy Inspector General of Police (DIG) Qazi Wahid told The Express Tribune.
“Police have been deputed in different parts of the city to maintain law and order,” he added.
In another incident, a man belonging to the Hazara community was shot dead on Sabzal Road.
Separately, a police constable was gunned down in Shal Kot area, on the outskirts of Quetta, in an apparent incident of targeted killing.
The killings sparked protests in different areas including Prince Road, Brewery Road, Hazara Town and Jinnah Road. Adjoining localities also remained tense.
Enraged protestors set a vehicle on fire outside Bolan Medical Complex and fired blank shots in the air to spread panic.
10 platoons of FC deployed in Quetta
Ten platoons of Frontier Corps (FC) were deployed in the city to maintain peace and control the situation.
More than 100 suspects were arrested in raids carried out across the city.
Most of the streets in the provincial capital were deserted with very little traffic on the roads.
A shutter down strike was being observed in the city today, following the strike call given by Hazara Democratic Party (HDP).
All schools and colleges were closed and students were sent back home amid strict security measures. “Students were trapped at Bahadur Khan Women University and they were sent back home with security cover provided by Frontier Corps,” a senior government official said.
All the shops and markets on Prince Road, Brewery, Joint Road, Liaquat Bazar, Alamdar Road, Jinnah Town, Hazara Town and other areas were closed.
Reader Comments (80)
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wat did the hazara people do to deserve this? i fail to understand.
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More death and mayhem brought to you by religion. This sectarian conflict has been going on for many centuries yet the people involved keep on propagating the same religious ideologies that are responsible for all this misery.
How many thousands more have to die because of our people’s extreme obsession with religion?
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Where is the Governmnt and the Stake holders which are just wasting our 80% of total budget.
serious matter to be dealt seriously, by the serious people.
i regret !!!!!
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What will this madness achieve. So much misery and destruction just to prove my religion is better than your religion.
This is what happens when you try to impose religion on society, this is what happens when the state makes it their concern to make laws based on religion and to make people more religious.
Religious dogma always leads to bigotry, hate and violence.
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Another target killing ie terrorist incident is being labelled as firing incident, Thank god it is not called a firing accident.
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Two-Nation theory in action.
Not a good way to control the population
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Extreme pain,is my heart in now.
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As mullahs and ghairat brigade say, we are a so called ideological state. So anyone opposing the true interpretation of ideology must be eliminated. This is the natural outcome of an ideological state.
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Don’t know when Taliban and there supportor start eating People….
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we want kashmir only
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“Religion is the most malevolent of all mind viruses.” – Arthur C. Clarke
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LeJ has been given free hands by the secret agencies to malign the Baloch war of independence with Islamic terrorism.
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Who told you this is sectarian violence ? They are clearly being targeted because Hazzaras are pro Pakistani state. I can sense BLA’s hand in this. They are achieving two things here. Creating chaos in the province and at the same time making hazzaras fleeing the province
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i wonder why nobody commented that hazaras are killed not on account of their ethnic origin, but due to their religious holdings as Shias.
Shia hunting season is on full swing in this land of pure…yes pure barbarism!
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this is work of CIA to destabilise pakistan.no muslim can kill another muslim,america is carrying out 4th generation war on multiple axis against pakistan,ISI should give them fitting reply.
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Its a tragedy. But How far these people can take this killings. One day they will take up arms Or some friendly country will use them and provide them training and weapons. Then end result will be one more anti Pakistan group in Baluchistan. Americans already on the way to see independent Baluchistan. These terrorist should be stopped at any cost to save Pakistan.
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I came here to condemn these killings until I read again and again the same venom and vitriol against religion here at Tribune. “The world will be peaceful if we have no religion.” the commentators repeat like the fawning followers of the new Atheists. Didn’t we experiment that before in Soviet Union where Muslims were hunted down and killed?
Hazaras are not even targeted and killed in Lahore and Islamabad by anyone. So, why the tendency to discard your brain cells when it comes to “violence” in Quetta when no Muslims in Lahore and Islamabad are killing Hazaras?
Every constructed division has been and will be creating conflicts. This include divisions that we willingly embrace: from “nation state” to “race” to “family”.
Ask Ashok and his co to open the borders between Bangladesh and India and reject the nation-state identity and let’s see how fast he and his co will embrace the two-nation theory.
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The provincial Government has completely failed in providing security to the people of Baluchistan. Stern action is required for which the intelligence agencies will have to pick up the suspects but who will handle the Human Rights Watch organizations who work on the directives of their foreign masters.
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Please do not recycle photographs – unless of course bereavement has visited the gentleman again.
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Sadly we muslims cannot live in peace together. Allah sabar karney walloon ke sath hay…
THe President himself is a Baloch but he seems to have other interest….beyond ordinary people of Pak. ANd these Baloch sardar have been promised to make governors of their present district area by trouble maker for all countries
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Why no action is being taken against LeJ who are targeting hapless Hazara community and state agencies adding fuel to the fire ??
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Hazara genocide continues: 34 down in two weeks. The policy of extremism is in full swing against innocent Hazaras in Balochistan which apparently shows the state involvement to achieve their dark agendas.
It’s neither India nor Israel or USA, they are the elements within– ‘Our Strategic Depth’.
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@ashok:
only an indian would bring this in. How about you go on and sort your slumland first and then on to lecture us.
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This is not about religion, this is a part of great game to break Pakistan. All these sects exists since ever before, why its happening now?
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And Genocide continues…….
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Don’t associate this with sectarian violence or religion. For God sake! This is an ethnic cleansing by nationalist indigenous Balouch groups, i.e BLA who see the Hazar Community as a jeopardy to Baloch domination in the province. Back in 90s; their targets were Pashtoon, then Panjabis and now this particular community.
Hazara minority is very active in both public and government sectors in Balochistan. Most of them are not even native Pakistanis but have come from Afghanistan, yet they have people in Quetta Police, in provincial assembly and even military. This makes the fanatic nationalists very stressful.
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@Faesal:
says d person whose country got export concessions from EU thanks 2 India whose country got 25 million dollars for 2010 floods from India. Whose country buys dengue medicine from us and wants India 2 provide refining of crude and supply electricity? I guess Muslims killing muslims in d land of pure is a true slap on ur faces. Continue this and soon Shias and qadiyani will do wht bengalis did.
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And we are proud of what? being muslims, being atomic power ? being the democratic country? keeping a big army ? or what ?
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@enlighten moderate: They are Shia, this is their fault. Since they are easy to recognize the killers do not need the ID to check their names to confirm they are shia or not…so it’s about being Shia
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As a Hazara every time I open any news media these days it says this many Hazaras gunned down. May God give us the patience to make it through these tough times and distroy our enemies. Ameen.
People, thankyou for your support. It is not a sectarian fight anymore It is normal people against pure Evil.
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@ashok:
Show some respect, I know its difficult for your kind but at least think of the innocents who were killed in this terrible incident.
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Dont blame it on anyone. Blame on the mentality of Pakistani people. I was appalled today when i met some friends from North west and they told me that it is absolutely right to kill Hazaras because they belong from a certain sect of Islam. Also they told me that sooner this bloodshed will be seen in Hangu region of KPK.
I appeal to the government that please take action against these killings in Balochistan and also many people are now telling about hoarding of Weapons in Hangu against Shias and please save Hangu and take precautionary measures there and save this region from this bloodshed as otherwise this could spill in Punjab and Sipahe Sahaba could exploit this event to create a civil war all around Pakistan.
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@farooq:
Such an ignorant statement from an equally ignorant person. Bhutto was put to death by Zia. Farooq….werent Zia and Bhutto Muslims? Salman taseer was killed by his own guard. What was the religion of the murderer Quadri? Stop making stupid statements .
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They are not killed on the basis of their cast. They are killed because they belong to shia community. Don’t associates killers with any political or nationalist group. The killers are surely Lashkar e Jhangvi (LeJ) and Jandullah who is also involved in terrorist activities in Balochistan inside Iran.
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@Faesal And only a Pakistani would bring in slums in India when incidents of genocide happen in Pakistan.
There are slums in Pakistan just like the ones in India, though if police were to raid a slum in Bombay, they won’t be attacked with grenades and rockets like the police in Lyari, Karachi are.
More importantly, I don’t see how a sectarian or religious killing in Quetta is related to slums in India…even Zaid Hamid couldn’t link these two issues.
Strike that, maybe he could…
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It’s about the the army is called in to stop the madness.
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@Afghan Karachiite: there are many afghan pashtoon,uzbek,tajik and iranian balochs in Quetta even in balochistan government, why only hazaras are being killed, a large population of hazaras are living before partition, this is genocide and nothing else conducted by terrorists for petty amount, patronised by land mafias, smugglers, thugs for economical, political benefits and mafias are again patronised by ministers, feudals. They carry their activities under the banner of tribal, religious and ethinic prejudices embedded in tribal system. The land occupied by Hazaras in Quetta is very lucrative in long and short run, and they are also in good postions in public and private jobs. So it’s almost natural to have an envy and grudge with Hazaras, don’t merely cofuse baloch insurgents with the terrorists, by the way LeJ is more than happy to carry out these activities.
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The dirty war against poor Shiites has been going on for the past one decade. Shiites are looking forward to their spiritual leaders to issue a fatwa allowing them to defend from themselves against aggressors, but Shiite leaders, being worried about the repercussions of their words and their positions, never give such a fatwa, though there is little doubt that Islam supports any war in line with self-defense and self-preservation. Thus the Shiites can do the following:
a) Answering the bullet with bullet and waging a self-defense war against aggressors no matter whatever the consequences.
b) Submitting to their lot not doing anything and letting the extremists do whatever they please (a thing they are currently doing).
c) Telling their govt. to do its duty and stop the atrocities or else allow them to join any other country for example India. One may say that it is a bad choice. But it has to be mentioned that Mother Nature has allowed one to do anything for the sake of self-preservation!
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where is difay-pakistan-council to difa pakistan?? sectarian cleansing is the biggest threat to pakistan’s existence. yet the council is quiet. will the tigers of council stop the indian(!!!!!!!!!!) agents from killing the fellow muslim(ofcourse the council will determine who is muslim or not, its in councils hand not in the hand of ALLAH) . difay pakistan council zindabad.
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The deployment of FC and Police in the city serves one sole purpose: to stop the common man raising their voice against injustice and brutality. At the same time, the killers roam freely.
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Its about time the ISI came out clean on their position regarding hazara killings: either admit that you have no clue about who these killers are or tell us that you know and have chosen not to act. In either of these cases, we have cause for concern about your performance.
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Being a Sunni Baloch, I believe our problems do not justify such incidents.
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What is Hafiz Saeed doing to stop this?? All these Mullahs shout about is American and women and do nothing about the real problems! We face a bigger threat in the country and not from America.
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@Adil: ISI role is to protect the integrity of Pakistan and usually it takes action when anti state elements do something wrong. In this case Police, IB and FIA have to be answerable as these cases fall in their domain. What is IB, Police and FIA is doing when everything have to be solved by ISI??.
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I fully support Shia community in this time of extreme hardships and i mourn for their dead, because if today i will not support them the next time they came for my sect no body will come to my help. This has happened before when in Past minorities were dealt one by one ( christians, Parsis, hindus, ahmadies) no body out of us resisted or supported them, neither brelvies nor Shias. Now we are in line and most probably will be dealt one by one. We at our own time thought our seleves to be indestructible and sided with those who were inflicting pain on others, now i am worried about my security on the roads, beside my door and when i am sitting outside with my friends or when i am praying in the mosque of my sect. It clearly shows that i am being punished by the GOD ALMIGHTY because i endorsed THE ZALIMEEN and rejoiced on the deaths of innocent.
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I appeal to Shias to unite against extremism.Recommend
Lo jee, inko Kashmir bhi chahiye. Is this bloodshed not enough for you ?
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@ZP: wrote,”Ask Ashok and his co to open the borders between Bangladesh and India and reject the nation-state identity and let’s see how fast he and his co will embrace the two-nation theory.”
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Sir, other sides of physical borders both in the East and West, are populated mostly by those who believe that Hindu and Muslims are two different nations and thus cannot live together. Not only that, there is other type of borders called “ideological” borders which each of them believing in “TWO NATION” theory has around each of them.This is impossible to break down.
Earlier 2 nation theory was applied to Hindu-Muslim context; once Hindus are eliminated, they have extended the same theory to Shia-Sunni context, next it could be Deobandi-Barelvi or Taliban-antitaliban context and so on. Even military-Civilian relations are governed under TNT in Pakistan.
India did not absorb the then East Pakistan in India for this very reason in 1971 because it was in Bengal where 2 nation theory was born. Despite a close watch on the Eastern borders many millions from that part have infiltrated and populated almost every city of northern India. Thanks to the vote politics of gathering Muslim votes in India which many parties do in India.
A vast majority of Indian Muslims do not believe in 2 nation theory and are living in peace and harmony with their fellow Hindus, Sikh and Christians as productive citizens. They are perhaps more Muslims in India than in Pakistan. Recommend
@AJ who writes “As a Hazara every time I open any news media these days it says this many Hazaras gunned down. May God give us the patience to make it through these tough times and distroy our enemies.”
So, who are your enemies? By the way, how can you destroy your enemy using patience?
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Killing Hazara’s wont do anything. seriously brothers, how about Pakistan concentrate on their financial problems rather think who to kill and who to keep. We have enough food and space for all to live happily.
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The Govt of Baluchistan is responsible for all this sectarian killings and religious intolerance.provincial ministers are involved in sectarian violence and ransom cases.A full fledge military operation should be carried in province to sort out all those elements funding and supervising those elements.All officials responsible for law and order must be suspended,as they are unable to apprehend a single individual involve in target killings.
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Sad one, this is a similar accident as in Gilgit – Baltistan . this is part of the same global game as in Iraq, Bahrain, Syria and now in Pakistan.. but unfortunately all the well educated people give this a shameful name of Shia-Sunni , which is not correct,,, we should see these as terrorist versus Human and try to show unity in this critical tume.
I have one question IS THIS RELIGIOUS DIVID ITSLEF CAN GRANTEE US PARADISE OR HAVEN???
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@ashok:
You indians never ever get tired of propaganda against two nation theory. i think by now you must understand that Pakistan ( thanks to your May nuclear blasts) is a nuclear state and is there to stay. Always, topic is some thing else but you indians divert it to anti- Pakistan campaign.Recommend
We have to face Judiciary of Allah with, Sunni Card, Shia Card, Sindhi Card, Punjabi Card, Baloochi Card, Muhajir Card, Pathan Card, Baralvi Card? aur just a Muslim, Momin?
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When will this and other media admit that it is not a ethnic hazara killings, it is a shia cleansing. I dont think it will be long before hazara-shias start rightful demand for their own province in GB and target the deobandi/wahabi agency backedthugs in GB. I think that is their right.
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@ashok:
2 nation theory morphed to 3 nation theory in 1971 – soon to become 4 nation theory
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These killings are not solely due to religious views. Politics play a big part. In the earlier days, Pathans and Baloch were made to fight each other, now its the Baloch vs Hazaras. Don’t restrict yourselves to one view, is all I am saying
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@farooq: Your conspiracy nonsense only insults the victims.
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@vivek ruparel:
What is the relevance of ur ranting here. Here we are talking about innocent people dying and u r talking about dengue. Recommend
@huzaifa:
Absolutely right. Perhaps ET should show some sense and only publish comments which are relevant. Otherwise Pakistanis who want serious debate are going to stop visiting the website.
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There is a genocide against the Shia communtiy going on in Pakistan but we have wilfully shut our eyes. We are none of us safe from these wahabi fanatics whatever our sect or belief. Shame on us. We shall have to answer to history and to our children. May Allah SWT give Jannat to those killed and may He give Sabr to their families. Ameen. Inna Lilahi wa inna Elahi rajeoon.
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@Afghan Karachiite:
Stop being defensive and in denial. Why do you feel you need to lie about the situation just to preserve this faux illusion of sectarian harmony because of your possible majority sect culpability and religious bigotry?
The Taliban Shura has congregated around Quetta as well as Jundullah, a notorious mostly Iran Sunni Baloch extremist organization inspired by Al Qaeda.
But in this case we have L-e-J, who also shifted operations to Quetta among other groups, openly claiming the kills They’re notoriety is from South Punjab.Recommend
Baloach nationalists, aided by Indian & Afghan intelligence, are involved in the killing of Hazaras. A big operation by the security forces is required.
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@sunder khan
No Baluch Nationalist has ever claimed responsibility for killing Hazaras. On the other hand the LEJ has claimed responsibility. There are jihad videos glorying the slaughter of Shias in Baluchistan which show sectarian militants, not Baluch nationalists, killing Hazaras. The LeJ which is responsible for all these killings which is tied to the ASWJ and the JuD and the “good Taliban”, strategic assets of our country all of them, darlings of the agencies. Baluch Nationalist leaders quite recently have spoken out against the killing of Hazaras, especially the slain Bugti’s successor.
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@Jawad Jutt:
OMG!
The situation is getting dire. Thank you, A LOT, Jawad, for the heads up. This religious bigotry and hate which condones extremism and terrorism against civilians is a reality in Pakistan. The bias and prejudice and sabotage by such twisted citizens is out in the open. The state needs to take immediate action to protect the innocent minority citizens in Hangu from those who harbour criminal leanings and wish them harm. It is unfortunate these are or were your friends. We must recognize how Pak has been hi-jacked and twisted by violent Wahhabi/Deoband/Salafi/Sunni supremacist propaganda and beliefs. Moderate Sunni numbers have been dwindling as the other members of the majority become increasingly radicalized and indoctrinated in violent and intolerant ideology and soon those few Sunni moderates left will be their next targets after non-Sunni minorities.
The other commentators who ridiculously claim foreign conspiracies or ethnic separatism (partly true) or the like, stop lying or being deranged, please! You are being complicit in these killings by distorting the reality and truth just to preserve your sense of avoiding culpability or guilt associated with these criminal fellow citizens or religious practitioners by letting this happen. You do not become religious bigots or sectarian extremists by default in admitting the truth of sectarianism. But the more you obfuscate or deny, the more you defend the bigots and extremists and actually become culpable and the very same monsters yourselves.
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Has 2-religion theory now morphed into two-sect theory ?
Other poosible theories in future ( 2 language theory, 2-dialect theory, 2 ethnicity theory ).
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@sunder khan: Not really it is Sepa sahaba and Baloch nationalists, nothing to do with outsiders.Recommend
All Karachiates should stand together and stage a protest at these killings. I will be on the look out if a protest is organized. I would want to join it.
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ET allows hateful comments by Indians but moderates comments by Pakistanis who are mourning these deaths. So much for being neutral ET. I am sure this won’t be published either.
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LeJ always reacts in response. when shia kill their leadership they react in reponse. Too much freedom given to shias is bringing its outcome.
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is it a terrorist attack? @Pakistani:
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i feel bad for those who lost their lives.. there is something above community, that is, humanity… we gotta understand that and stop being brutal and killing people in the name of upholding our community. being a muslim i know that our religion does not support this kind of ruthlessness. its sad that pakistan has a population that is under-developed and still fights on petty issues. God help them
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@Bajwa:
Your extremism and anti-Shia hate and bigotry showing. So you’re opposed to freedom and have decided to support racist discrimination, oppression via murder, bombing and militant massacres.
And no, please don’t lie about LeJ being a defensive militia. It’s akin to a Nazi KKK party claiming to be defending ‘white rights’. Where has there been a case of a Hazara involved in killing their leaders who promote and order violent wholesale sectarian cleansing? And why don’t you ask why the assassinations, without killing women and children or other bystanders, happen in the first place?
The Wahhabi/Deoband/Salafi/Sunni supremacist group have many times committed unprovoked atrocities such as blowing up funerals, processions, hospitals, masjids and Imambargahs, which included women and children and innocent men.
Shame on you for justifying criminal terrorism. Recommend
@Noise:
LeJ is definitely involved in the killing of Shias in Punjab and Sind but in Baluchistan it is a different ball game altogether. Unfortunately a number of foreign intelligence agencies are operating in Baluchistan and KPK to destabilize these provinces. Previously their agents have been killing the settlers and now they are trying to create sectarian issue. For this purpose they are not only using LeJ and Baloach Nationalists but also many other criminal groups. The issue is not that simple.
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Hazaras are more Pakistanis than anyone else understand! Recommend
Where is Hafiz Saeed now?
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Some are conveniently trying to ignore that ethnicity DOES play a factor here. If not so, why are shia killings not happening every day in other cities of Pakistan? And why only Hazara shias as there are other shias too in Quetta.
Indians themselves are sponsoring these attacks from their many consulates across the border but here they try to appear as innocent commentators. The source of these killings lies in Afghanistan. Just read up on who is supporting Jundullah in order to get to Iran.
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@Babloo:
you are just hopeless… apart from spitting venom, you have nothing else to say….
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@ZP
Hazaras are not even targeted and killed in Lahore and Islamabad by anyone
I think because in Islamabad and Lahore you can more easily prey on the Ahmadis and the Christians and Shias in general.
Now don’t tell me that no one is targeting these groups in Lahore and Islamabad.
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@Basit
Which world are you living in, Shias are being killed regularly in other places across Pakistan. Open your eyes and ears.
@Sunder kahn
The LeJ moved into Baluchistan years ago. Read the news for once. Many of its members escape from a Quetta prison years ago too. They are probably based in madressahs run by ASWJ.
@Bajwa
So whose killing are the mazloom LeJ reacting to now. And do you seriously think the people being killed on the streets have anything to to do with any assassination.
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