Under attack: Another day, another massacre

Eight Hazaras killed in Quetta shootings; killings spark violent protests.


Shezad Baloch April 15, 2012

QUETTA:


The carnage continues with authorities seeming increasingly helpless.


A day after the Shia community staged protest rallies across the country, nine more people – all except one from the ethnic Hazara community – were killed in drive-by shootings in two neighbourhoods of Quetta on Saturday.

With the latest deaths the number of Hazaras, who are Shias by sect, killed over the past week or so has risen to 18 – the most recent upsurge in weeks of bloodletting against the community.

In the first incident, armed men ambushed a taxi on Brewery Road, killing all six people inside, police said.

“The victims were travelling to the Killi Ibraimzai area from Hazara Town when they were ambushed,” Deputy Inspector General of Police Qazi Wahid told The Express Tribune. “It was a sectarian attack,” he said.

Another police official added that the attackers were riding on two motorbikes. “They sprayed the taxi with bullets and drove away from the scene,” Malik Arshad, Superintendent of Police (SP) for the Brewery Road area, told The Express Tribune.

The fatalities were shifted to the Bolan Medical Complex (BMC) for autopsy. Dozens of Hazara community members gathered at the hospital where tempers ran high. Enraged protesters set a car on fire on the hospital premises.

SP Arsahd sought to absolve his force of the responsibility. “The victims were supposed to use Spini Road where foolproof security arrangements were in place. They, however, did not take the suggested route,” he said.

At the BMC, medics said that all the victims were shot in the head and chest.

Just 500 metres away from the crime scene, two more Hazara community members were gunned down in a targeted attack on Sabzal Road.

The deaths came a day after Balochistan Governor Nawab Zulfiqar Magsi warned that the province could slide into a civil war if the rising incidents of target killing were not checked.

Magsi had censured the government and warned that if civil authorities could not restore order, he would be compelled to call out the military.

Chief Minister Nawab Aslam Raisani looked to pass the buck on Saturday, laying the blame for the breakdown of law and order squarely on the shoulders of law enforcers.

He, however, repeated his ceremonial promise: “All available resources will be utilised to bring the perpetrators of such heinous crimes to justice.”

On Friday, the Shia community staged rallies across the country to protest target killings of their members in different cities and towns of the country, especially in Quetta.

Incensed by Saturday’s killings, the Hazara community again took to the streets in different neighbourhoods of Quetta including Prince Road, Brewery Road, Hazara Town and Jinnah Road.

All shopping malls, markets and eateries were closed as irate protesters fired gunshots into the air to whip up panic. The city’s main roads, thoroughfares, and even streets wore a deserted look as motorists and transporters did not venture out. Schools and colleges were also closed and students were escorted to their homes by security agencies.  Later in the day, a mass funeral for the victims was held at Nichari Imambargha on Alamdar Road.

Later, a police constable was shot dead by gunmen in the Shal Kot area, on the outskirts of Quetta, in an apparent incident of targeted killing.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 15th, 2012.

COMMENTS (4)

adeel | 11 years ago | Reply

We are pushing country towards civil war. Better to proctect these people before its too late

please save the innocent people of GILGIT because they are Muslim.....

Ali Wali | 11 years ago | Reply Establishment and its tools like Sepa sahaba are trying to restrict Shia movement in Balochistan, seems some high value terrorist is living in Quetta.
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