Labelled as “infidels”, minority Shiite group tracked down and killed in Pakistan

Hazara womend protest in Quetta on April 19. Photo by our Observer, Basit Ali.

The simple act of walking in the streets of Quetta, the capital of Pakistan’s western Balochistan province, can have deadly consequences for the city’s Hazara community. The Hazaras, who are predominately Shiite Muslims, have been labelled “infidels” by extremist Sunnis, who hold a significant amount of power in the region. For the past 20 years, our Observer has lived with the daily threat of violence because of his religion – a threat that claimed the life of one more victim just this Monday.

Monday’s death came on the heels of a terrorist attack on Saturday, April 14, which left nine Hazaras dead. The act was claimed by Pakistan’s extremist Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, a group with ties to both the Taliban and al-Qaeda, which has targeted the region’s Hazara population. Just one week before, religious violence claimed the lives of nine other Hazaras....Continue Reading....