Sectarian attack: Slain Hazara men laid to rest in Quetta

The community announces it will stage protests locally and internationally.

QUETTA:

The six members of the Hazara community who were killed in sectarian target killing on Monday were buried in their ancestral graveyard in Hazara Town and Marriabad on Tuesday amid tight security in Quetta.

Funeral prayers for four victims were offered in Hazara graveyards in Eastern Bypass and for the other two in Marriabad. A score of religious scholars and leaders of the Hazara Democratic Party (HDP) participated in the funeral prayers.

Six people of the Hazara community were gunned down and three others injured when a group of armed men on two motorbikes opened fire at a shoe-making shop on Prince Road on Monday night. All the victims were cobblers.

The banned outfit Lashkar-e-Jhangvi claimed responsibility for the killings.

The President of Shia Conference, Ashraf Zaidi, said that the government was not interested in catching the culprits behind targeted attacks on the Hazara community. “We are patriotic Pakistanis and will not leave Quetta out of fear,” he said. “Neither Baloch nor Pashtuns are our enemy. A handful of criminals are trying to disrupt law and order in the city by targeting the Hazara community,” he added.

The mourners raised slogans against the government and law enforcement agencies for failing to curb sectarian violence in the Balochistan capital. Stringent security measures were adopted across Quetta. Security forces and police were deployed to maintain public order.

The police conducted raids in different parts of Quetta and detained dozens of suspects for interrogation.

The HDP announced that the Hazara community will protest outside the embassies of USA, Australia and other European and Asian countries as well as outside United Nations offices. They also claimed to register their plea with international human rights organisations to highlight the rampant targeted killings of Hazara community members in Quetta.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 11^th, 2012.