Tragedy inflicted by few evil men on Hazara community is heartbreaking: Hamza Ali Abbasi

Thousands of mourners from the Shia Hazara community on Monday protested alongside the bodies of miners killed in an attack in Balochistan's Mach coal field area.

The 11 miners were kidnapped before dawn on Sunday as they slept near the remote coal mine in the mountainous area — 60 kilometres southeast of Quetta. The attack was claimed by the militant Islamic State (IS) group.

Up to 2,500 protesters gathered with eight of the bodies in coffins and blocked a bypass on the outskirts of Quetta, demanding justice. “We will not end our protest until the arrest of all the assassins,” chief of Balochistan Shia Conference, Agha Daud, told AFP.

Now, several on Twitter have started calling out the discrimination and violence against the Hazara community, including actor Hamza Ali Abbasi. Taking to Twitter on Wednesday morning, Abbasi wrote, "The horrifying tragedy inflicted by a few EVIL MEN on the Hazara community is so heart breaking, that all i can tell myself is to feel some peace [with the knowledge] that GOD IS WATCHING EVERYTHING."

He then concluded with a prayer, "May Allah bless the souls of the victims and give courage to the families."

Syed Agha Raza, a Hazara political leader told Reuters, “We have become tired of picking up the bodies of our people." While Masooma Yaqoob Ali said her elder brother along with four other relatives was among those killed. “Now we have no male member [of our family] to take coffins of our brother and other relatives to the graveyard for burial,” she had said, shedding tears as she spoke.

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