Hundreds of Hazaras and other Shia people have been killed in dozens of terrorist attacks in Balochistan over the last two decades.
In the latest attack, at least 11 coalminers were executed in Macch late Saturday. The attack was claimed by the Islamic State’s Wilayah Pakistan arm.
The militant group released a graphic image that showed two armed men standing next to the bodies of the coalminers. The black ISIS flag can also be seen in the picture.
Hazara protesters have blocked the western bypass in Balochistan and refused to bury their dead. This isn’t the first such protest by the persecuted ethnic minority.
SAMAA Digital has managed to track at least 22 major attacks from 2003 to 2021 that killed 489 people. But the actual number goes much higher as this data doesn’t include targeted killings.
The attacks were carried by several anti-Shia groups, including the Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, ISIS, and the Jaish al-Islam.
Human rights activist Jalila Haider says that over 3,000 Hazara people have been killed in Balochistan in the last two decades.
In May 2018, Army Chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa flew to Quetta to request the protesting Hazaras to end their hunger strike against the attacks targeting the community.
“General sahib came to us and told us that the protection of our community would be ensured,” Jalila said, recalling her meeting with the army chief. She claimed that the army chief told her that the state’s policies in the past were to blame for sectarian violence in the province.
“But he said that all such policies have been trashed,” the rights activist said. She said the killings stopped for a few months after General Bajwa’s visit to Quetta in 2018.
But the Hazaras once again came under attack last week despite the assurances.
The Hazara people have been working at the Machh coal mines for over a century, according to Jalila.
“They are poor people, how will their families live now after the killings of these men” she questioned.
But the answer to Jalila’s question has yet to be found even after decades.
from SAMAA https://ift.tt/2JKMYr3
No comments:
Post a Comment