Friday, October 7, 2011
Thursday, October 6, 2011
Pakistan's minority Hazaras live in fear
Survivors of latest targeted attacks describe constant threats that have disrupted life for Shia living in Quetta.
Mujib Mashal Last Modified: 06 Oct 2011 14:36
At least 90 Hazaras have been killed since July 30, local leaders say [Reuters]
"They ordered the passengers off the bus," said Hassan, a 16-year-old construction worker who survived the September 19 sectarian attack on Hazaras, a minority Shia group in Pakistan's southwest Balouchistan province. Carrying around forty passengers, mostly pilgrims going to Iran, the bus was stopped in the Mastung area, just an hour drive outside the provincial capital Quetta, and only half a kilometre from a Paksitani police checkpost.
"Everybody got off, but I hid under one of the seats. The gunmen did not come up to check the bus. They just ordered everyone off."
The Hazaras were separated from the four or five Balouch passengers, who stood watching. They were lined up for an execution-style massacre.
"After that, I heard no words. They said nothing to them and just opened fire." The gunmen sped away in two pick up trucks.
Hassan survived the Mustang bus attack by hiding under a seat
When Hassan came out of hiding and stepped out of the bus, he saw bodies and blood.
Twenty six were killed and six injured, according to media reports. But Hasan remembers only seeing three injured, among them 19-year-old Mohamed Ayaz, a carpet weaver from a family with nine siblings.
On his first pilgrimage to Iran, Ayaz was shot in the leg, but what saved him was two other bodies that collapsed on top of him absorbing the subsequent bullets.
"It is on my mind every day," Ayaz told Al Jazeera, "because even within Quetta city, they can kill."
The recent spate of violence targeting the minority Hazaras, Shia by sect, has left the community of about 500,000 people fearing for their safety. According to local leaders, at least 90 Hazaras have been gunned down in and around Quetta since July 30. In the most recent incidents, on October 4, at least thirteen people were killed when gunmen stormed a bus and opened fire indiscriminately.
Lashkar-e-Jangvi, an extremist group with links to al-Qaeda, has claimed responsibility for the October 4 assault as well as several other targeted attacks on Shias - particularly Hazara Shias - in Balochistan.
"We hundred per cent believe that it is Lashkar e Jangvi (LEJ) because they always take responsibility," says Ahmed Kohzad, General Secretary of Hazara Democratic Party.
Formed during the military regime of General Zia ul haq, LEJ was banned after the government of Parviz Musharraf annouced that Pakistan was joining the US alliance in the "war against terror". But it has continued to operate in many parts of Pakistan, particularly in Punjab, and has been linked to the attack on Islamabad's Marriot hotel in 2008, as well as the assault on visiting Sir Lankan cricket team in 2009. Also in 2009, LEJ members reportedly played a role in the siege on the army headquarters in Islamabad.
Imprisoned since 1997 for over 50 cases ranging from murder to terrorism, LEJ's leader, Malik Ishaq, was freed on July 15 from jail for a lack of evidence.
In his speaking tours since his release, he has continued to incite violence against Shias, as on September 19, he was welcomed into Alipur by a "party of 800 men on motorcycles chanting anti-Shia slogans," the Pakistani paper The Tribune reported.
Reacting to his release, the Imamia Students Association, a shia group, warned that his release would mean more violence against Shias.
"The planned release of terror kingpin Malik Ishaq who is also the co-founder of banned organisation Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, with the blessing of Punjab government's weak prosecution and the court's blind decision is likely to fuel the ruthless killings of Shias across the country," they said.
Reza Nasim Jan, Pakistan team lead at the American Enterprise Institute, says although there is no direct evidence tying Ishaq to the rapid increase in violence, his anti-Shia rhetoric, on display during speaking tours and rallies focused in Sindh and Punjab, has not changed since his release.
"While there is no smoking gun linking Ishaq's release with the spike in violence in Balochistan, based on the reporting of rallies and Ishaq's speaking tour, his rhetoric remains pretty virulently anti-Shia," he said.
"Ishaq and another Lashkar-e-Jhangvi leader, Ghulam Rasool Shah, were arrested after the Mustang attack, indicating that the police, at least, were drawing connections between Ishaq’s activities and the rise in killings."
"When you release a man accused of 70 murders, a man whose followers actively against the state, it sends a message that you are not willing to take these guys on."
- Reza Nasim Jan
"When you release a man accused of 70 murders, a man whose followers actively attack the state, it sends a message that you are not willing to take these guys on. And it will likely encourage further such activity," said Jan.
Failing to provide security
"People live in strange environment of fear," said a 26-year-old doctor who cannot be named for his own safety. A recent graduate, the doctor had worked in one of Quetta's largest hospitals for the past year, but was forced to quit for safety reasons.
"My mother and sister would cry every day as I left for work, afraid that I might not return."
After protests against government inaction on October 4, Pakistan's police announced that they have launched a crackdown and rounded up nearly 100 people in a raid for the latest attack. The provincial government has also formed an investigation committeethat is expected to submit a report within 15 days.
Additionally, the government has promised increased security measures and police presence, but locals say such measures could not assure their safety.
"There are only about 1,100 policemen across Quetta for all purposes including regular policing, providing security for VIPs and other things," Jan says. "Given how stretched authorities are, and with an active separatist insurgency in Balochistan among other issues, I doubt providing security for Hazaras is a top priority for the law enforcement."
Despite repeated attempts, Al Jazeera could not reach a spokesman in the provincial government for comment.
'Erosion of respect for rights'
A persecuted ethnic minority in Afghanistan, the Hazaras first migrated to current-day Pakistan in 1890's, fleeing the wrath of Abdul Rahman Khan, the Emir of Afghanistan.
They took up residence around Quetta, then a British Garrison town.
"We struggled for Pakistan's independence, we fought wars for this country," says Ahmed Kohzad, General Secretary of the Hazara Democratic Party.
In 1965, when Pakistan went to war with India over Kashmir, Hazara commanders were given titles for their bravery. At least two commanders, he said, were given the title of "Lion of Kashmir."
"But since 1999, at least 550 members of our community have been killed," he said
Hazaras mostly live in two neighbourhoods of Quetta, Mari Abad, near an army base in the eastern part of the city, and Hazara Town, in the west. Since July, the doctor said, the residents have minimised going back and forth between the two neighbourhoods.
"People are scared to even go to the other town for funerals," he said. "And when they go out, they make sure it's not a Hazara bus they travel in. They recite their prayers, not knowing whether they will make it."
"In the past ten years, we have seen a general erosion of the respect for the rights of minorities "
- Sam Zarifi
According to Sam Zarifi, Amnesty International's Asia-Pacific director, the Pakistani government has failed to address the collapse of law and order in Balochistan. Kill-and-dump operations have gone unanswered by authorities.
"The Pakistani government has clearly not taken enough steps as the attacks are increasing," Zarifi told Al Jazeera.
"It's very worrying that groups like Lashkar-e-Jangvi explicitly say they want to target minorities, and the government is yet to take concrete action against them. Some of their members have been detained, but without a proper trial to ensure justice."
In July 2008, two members of Lashkar-e-Jangvi, one of them on death row, escaped from a high-security prison in Quetta. Usman Saifullah and Shafiq ur Rehman were convicted for, among other things, the raid on Shia mosque in Quetta in 2003 that killed 53 people.
"In the past ten years, we have seen a general erosion of the respect for the rights of minorities," says Amnesty's Zarifi. "The Human rights community in Pakistan has been crying out against this phenomenon for years: that by not doing anything in the face of those who call for violence against minorities, by not doing enough to show that Pakistani society has a history of inclusivity, it gives signals to the culture at large that this violence is ok.
"When the government does nothing against the people who call for violence on things very trivial, it clearly sends a wrong message about the value of human life."
Hazaras have launched country wide protests, hoping the government will take more take steps to ensure their safety. Their notice has been heard at the Balochistan high court, and they hope to take their appeal to the country's supreme court in Islamabad.
"We want the government to go after Lashkar e Jangvi," says Kohzad. " It's a network of possibly 20 to 30 men, and they have wreaked fear in this city. They only thing that can bring us security is a targeted operation against them."
Follow Mujib Mashal on twitter @mujmash
Aljazeera
Mujib Mashal Last Modified: 06 Oct 2011 14:36
"They ordered the passengers off the bus," said Hassan, a 16-year-old construction worker who survived the September 19 sectarian attack on Hazaras, a minority Shia group in Pakistan's southwest Balouchistan province. Carrying around forty passengers, mostly pilgrims going to Iran, the bus was stopped in the Mastung area, just an hour drive outside the provincial capital Quetta, and only half a kilometre from a Paksitani police checkpost.
"Everybody got off, but I hid under one of the seats. The gunmen did not come up to check the bus. They just ordered everyone off."
The Hazaras were separated from the four or five Balouch passengers, who stood watching. They were lined up for an execution-style massacre.
"After that, I heard no words. They said nothing to them and just opened fire." The gunmen sped away in two pick up trucks.
When Hassan came out of hiding and stepped out of the bus, he saw bodies and blood.
Twenty six were killed and six injured, according to media reports. But Hasan remembers only seeing three injured, among them 19-year-old Mohamed Ayaz, a carpet weaver from a family with nine siblings.
On his first pilgrimage to Iran, Ayaz was shot in the leg, but what saved him was two other bodies that collapsed on top of him absorbing the subsequent bullets.
"It is on my mind every day," Ayaz told Al Jazeera, "because even within Quetta city, they can kill."
The recent spate of violence targeting the minority Hazaras, Shia by sect, has left the community of about 500,000 people fearing for their safety. According to local leaders, at least 90 Hazaras have been gunned down in and around Quetta since July 30. In the most recent incidents, on October 4, at least thirteen people were killed when gunmen stormed a bus and opened fire indiscriminately.
Lashkar-e-Jangvi, an extremist group with links to al-Qaeda, has claimed responsibility for the October 4 assault as well as several other targeted attacks on Shias - particularly Hazara Shias - in Balochistan.
"We hundred per cent believe that it is Lashkar e Jangvi (LEJ) because they always take responsibility," says Ahmed Kohzad, General Secretary of Hazara Democratic Party.
Formed during the military regime of General Zia ul haq, LEJ was banned after the government of Parviz Musharraf annouced that Pakistan was joining the US alliance in the "war against terror". But it has continued to operate in many parts of Pakistan, particularly in Punjab, and has been linked to the attack on Islamabad's Marriot hotel in 2008, as well as the assault on visiting Sir Lankan cricket team in 2009. Also in 2009, LEJ members reportedly played a role in the siege on the army headquarters in Islamabad.
Imprisoned since 1997 for over 50 cases ranging from murder to terrorism, LEJ's leader, Malik Ishaq, was freed on July 15 from jail for a lack of evidence.
In his speaking tours since his release, he has continued to incite violence against Shias, as on September 19, he was welcomed into Alipur by a "party of 800 men on motorcycles chanting anti-Shia slogans," the Pakistani paper The Tribune reported.
Reacting to his release, the Imamia Students Association, a shia group, warned that his release would mean more violence against Shias.
"The planned release of terror kingpin Malik Ishaq who is also the co-founder of banned organisation Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, with the blessing of Punjab government's weak prosecution and the court's blind decision is likely to fuel the ruthless killings of Shias across the country," they said.
Reza Nasim Jan, Pakistan team lead at the American Enterprise Institute, says although there is no direct evidence tying Ishaq to the rapid increase in violence, his anti-Shia rhetoric, on display during speaking tours and rallies focused in Sindh and Punjab, has not changed since his release.
"While there is no smoking gun linking Ishaq's release with the spike in violence in Balochistan, based on the reporting of rallies and Ishaq's speaking tour, his rhetoric remains pretty virulently anti-Shia," he said.
"Ishaq and another Lashkar-e-Jhangvi leader, Ghulam Rasool Shah, were arrested after the Mustang attack, indicating that the police, at least, were drawing connections between Ishaq’s activities and the rise in killings."
"When you release a man accused of 70 murders, a man whose followers actively against the state, it sends a message that you are not willing to take these guys on."
- Reza Nasim Jan
"When you release a man accused of 70 murders, a man whose followers actively attack the state, it sends a message that you are not willing to take these guys on. And it will likely encourage further such activity," said Jan.
Failing to provide security
"People live in strange environment of fear," said a 26-year-old doctor who cannot be named for his own safety. A recent graduate, the doctor had worked in one of Quetta's largest hospitals for the past year, but was forced to quit for safety reasons.
"My mother and sister would cry every day as I left for work, afraid that I might not return."
After protests against government inaction on October 4, Pakistan's police announced that they have launched a crackdown and rounded up nearly 100 people in a raid for the latest attack. The provincial government has also formed an investigation committeethat is expected to submit a report within 15 days.
Additionally, the government has promised increased security measures and police presence, but locals say such measures could not assure their safety.
"There are only about 1,100 policemen across Quetta for all purposes including regular policing, providing security for VIPs and other things," Jan says. "Given how stretched authorities are, and with an active separatist insurgency in Balochistan among other issues, I doubt providing security for Hazaras is a top priority for the law enforcement."
Despite repeated attempts, Al Jazeera could not reach a spokesman in the provincial government for comment.
'Erosion of respect for rights'
A persecuted ethnic minority in Afghanistan, the Hazaras first migrated to current-day Pakistan in 1890's, fleeing the wrath of Abdul Rahman Khan, the Emir of Afghanistan.
They took up residence around Quetta, then a British Garrison town.
"We struggled for Pakistan's independence, we fought wars for this country," says Ahmed Kohzad, General Secretary of the Hazara Democratic Party.
In 1965, when Pakistan went to war with India over Kashmir, Hazara commanders were given titles for their bravery. At least two commanders, he said, were given the title of "Lion of Kashmir."
"But since 1999, at least 550 members of our community have been killed," he said
Hazaras mostly live in two neighbourhoods of Quetta, Mari Abad, near an army base in the eastern part of the city, and Hazara Town, in the west. Since July, the doctor said, the residents have minimised going back and forth between the two neighbourhoods.
"People are scared to even go to the other town for funerals," he said. "And when they go out, they make sure it's not a Hazara bus they travel in. They recite their prayers, not knowing whether they will make it."
"In the past ten years, we have seen a general erosion of the respect for the rights of minorities "
- Sam Zarifi
According to Sam Zarifi, Amnesty International's Asia-Pacific director, the Pakistani government has failed to address the collapse of law and order in Balochistan. Kill-and-dump operations have gone unanswered by authorities.
"The Pakistani government has clearly not taken enough steps as the attacks are increasing," Zarifi told Al Jazeera.
"It's very worrying that groups like Lashkar-e-Jangvi explicitly say they want to target minorities, and the government is yet to take concrete action against them. Some of their members have been detained, but without a proper trial to ensure justice."
In July 2008, two members of Lashkar-e-Jangvi, one of them on death row, escaped from a high-security prison in Quetta. Usman Saifullah and Shafiq ur Rehman were convicted for, among other things, the raid on Shia mosque in Quetta in 2003 that killed 53 people.
"In the past ten years, we have seen a general erosion of the respect for the rights of minorities," says Amnesty's Zarifi. "The Human rights community in Pakistan has been crying out against this phenomenon for years: that by not doing anything in the face of those who call for violence against minorities, by not doing enough to show that Pakistani society has a history of inclusivity, it gives signals to the culture at large that this violence is ok.
"When the government does nothing against the people who call for violence on things very trivial, it clearly sends a wrong message about the value of human life."
Hazaras have launched country wide protests, hoping the government will take more take steps to ensure their safety. Their notice has been heard at the Balochistan high court, and they hope to take their appeal to the country's supreme court in Islamabad.
"We want the government to go after Lashkar e Jangvi," says Kohzad. " It's a network of possibly 20 to 30 men, and they have wreaked fear in this city. They only thing that can bring us security is a targeted operation against them."
Follow Mujib Mashal on twitter @mujmash
Aljazeera
Why Hazaras are being killed
Amir Mir
Thursday, October 06, 2011
LAHORE: The authorities investigating the current spate of execution-style sectarian killings in Quetta say it is part of a systematic campaign launched by the Lashkar-e-Jhangvi to persecute half a million members of the Persian speaking Hazara community into leaving Pakistan, the way the Taliban regime of Mullah Omar forced thousands of them to abandon Afghanistan between 1995 and 2001.
In its latest attack on October 4, the LeJ killed 14 more Hazaras traveling on a bus to work in Quetta. The attackers forced them off the bus, made them stand in a line and then opened fire. The massacre was literally an action replay of the September 20 cold-blooded execution-style killing of 29 pilgrims of Hazara community in the Mastung area of Quetta who were on their way to Iran from Quetta.
Armed with Kalashnikovs and rocket launchers, the attackers stopped the bus and forced the pilgrims to get off. While women and children were spared, they were made to witness the execution of their dear ones who were lined up and sprayed with bullets.
The LeJ had claimed responsibility for the massacre. The LeJ, which has strong ties with the al-Qaeda and Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan, is a sworn enemy of a particular sect and has a declared agenda of ridding Pakistan of it.
Available figures show that a total of 422 Hazaras have been killed in Balochistan alone since 1999. Well-informed sources in the intelligence establishment say the killing spree in Quetta is being spearheaded by one of the most wanted LeJ activist, Usman Saifullah Kurd. Interestingly, Kurd had been arrested in 2006 but he finally escaped from a Quetta jail in January 2008.
Those investigating the ongoing killings of Hazaras say the campaign has intensified in the aftermath of the May 2, 2011 killing of al-Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden in an American military raid in Pakistan. Immediately after the Abbottabad episode, a spokesman of the LeJ, who identified himself as Ali Sher Haidri, threatened to avenge the killing of “Sheikh Osama bin Laden” by targeting not only government ministers and Pakistani security forces’ personnel but also the Hazaras.
Shortly afterwards, threatening letters were circulated in Hazara areas of Quetta, warning residents either to leave Balochistan by 2012 or to get prepared for more violence because the Lashkar-e-Jhangvi will be intensifying the holy war against the Hazaras, similar to the one waged by the Afghan Taliban against the Hazaras in Bamiyan and Ghazni provinces of Afghanistan”.
Mostly settled in central Afghanistan, the Hazaras comprise the third-largest ethnic group of Afghanistan. The Hazara Mongols of Afghanistan represent one of the last surviving Mongol remnants in western Asia of the vast empire, which was conquered by the armies of Chinggis Khan in the early 13th century and consolidated by his descendants. The Mongol origin of the Hazaras is attested by their high cheekbones and sparse beards.
Over half a million Hazaras living in Pakistan, especially in the Quetta district, are Afghan refugees who settled in the city following the 1979 Soviet invasion of Afghanistan and the subsequent outbreak of the Afghan civil war. They are the frequent target of attacks in Afghanistan as well as in Pakistan by sectarian-cum-militant groups.
Those investigating the upsurge in sectarian attacks in Quetta believe the dreadful tendency has something to do with the recent release of Malik Mohammad Ishaq, the operational chief of the Lashkar-e-Jhangvi who had been charged with involvement in 100-plus sectarian murders but released by the Supreme Court on bail due to “lack of evidence”. Malik Ishaq’s release instantly caused sectarian tensions that were prompted by the sectarian sermons he began delivering while touring Punjab, coupled with the release of an open letter addressed to the Hazara community living in Quetta.
Therefore, on September 21, 2011 hardly 24 hours after the bloodbath in Mastung, Malik Ishaq was placed under temporary house arrest in Rahim Yar Khan, with district police officer Sohail Chattha saying: “Ishaq’s conduct has endangered sectarian harmony and caused a sudden rise in the sectarian temperature in the country.”
According to Punjab police records, after being arrested by Punjab police in 1997 on charges of involvement in 102 murders, Ishaq confessed to committing 11 and abetting 57 other killings. But according to Ishaq’s lawyer, Misbahul Haq, who pleaded his bail case in the Supreme Court, his client was acquitted in 35 cases because of “lack of evidence”, and granted bail in eight cases and discharged in one case.
The last charge leveled against him was masterminding from his jail cell the March 2009 terrorist attack targeting a bus carrying the Sri Lankan cricket team in Lahore. During subsequent investigations, it transpired that the LeJ attackers wanted to take hostage the cricket team to get Ishaq released. He was bailed out anyway by the Supreme Court “due to lack of evidence and the weak case of the prosecution”, as observed by two apex court judges while bailing him out against a surety bond of a million rupees.
While giving its verdict, a division bench of the apex court comprising Justice Shahid Siddiqui and Justice Asif Khosa expressed dissatisfaction over the poor performance of the prosecution in establishing its case against the accused.
The court observed that the prosecution produced only two witnesses who stated that they had heard conversations between some people planning to take the Sri Lankan cricket team hostage to get Ishaq released. The bench censured the prosecutor general of Punjab, saying: “The judiciary has to face the wrath of the public when it releases such accused due to lack of evidence and weak case of the prosecution.”
On the other hand, Malik Ishaq said in a brief media talk after being set free: “We were never terrorists and killers and the apex court has also proven that.” He was cheered by hundreds of LeJ activists and showered with rose petals as he walked from a high-security prison in Lahore to a waiting land cruiser that was surrounded by dozens of his arms-wielding supporters. The million-dollar questions remains: are the Pakistani authorities incapable or unwilling to stop the march of al-Qaeda-linked LeJ as it goes about its goal of radicalizing Pakistan.
THE NEWS
Thursday, October 06, 2011
LAHORE: The authorities investigating the current spate of execution-style sectarian killings in Quetta say it is part of a systematic campaign launched by the Lashkar-e-Jhangvi to persecute half a million members of the Persian speaking Hazara community into leaving Pakistan, the way the Taliban regime of Mullah Omar forced thousands of them to abandon Afghanistan between 1995 and 2001.
In its latest attack on October 4, the LeJ killed 14 more Hazaras traveling on a bus to work in Quetta. The attackers forced them off the bus, made them stand in a line and then opened fire. The massacre was literally an action replay of the September 20 cold-blooded execution-style killing of 29 pilgrims of Hazara community in the Mastung area of Quetta who were on their way to Iran from Quetta.
Armed with Kalashnikovs and rocket launchers, the attackers stopped the bus and forced the pilgrims to get off. While women and children were spared, they were made to witness the execution of their dear ones who were lined up and sprayed with bullets.
The LeJ had claimed responsibility for the massacre. The LeJ, which has strong ties with the al-Qaeda and Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan, is a sworn enemy of a particular sect and has a declared agenda of ridding Pakistan of it.
Available figures show that a total of 422 Hazaras have been killed in Balochistan alone since 1999. Well-informed sources in the intelligence establishment say the killing spree in Quetta is being spearheaded by one of the most wanted LeJ activist, Usman Saifullah Kurd. Interestingly, Kurd had been arrested in 2006 but he finally escaped from a Quetta jail in January 2008.
Those investigating the ongoing killings of Hazaras say the campaign has intensified in the aftermath of the May 2, 2011 killing of al-Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden in an American military raid in Pakistan. Immediately after the Abbottabad episode, a spokesman of the LeJ, who identified himself as Ali Sher Haidri, threatened to avenge the killing of “Sheikh Osama bin Laden” by targeting not only government ministers and Pakistani security forces’ personnel but also the Hazaras.
Shortly afterwards, threatening letters were circulated in Hazara areas of Quetta, warning residents either to leave Balochistan by 2012 or to get prepared for more violence because the Lashkar-e-Jhangvi will be intensifying the holy war against the Hazaras, similar to the one waged by the Afghan Taliban against the Hazaras in Bamiyan and Ghazni provinces of Afghanistan”.
Mostly settled in central Afghanistan, the Hazaras comprise the third-largest ethnic group of Afghanistan. The Hazara Mongols of Afghanistan represent one of the last surviving Mongol remnants in western Asia of the vast empire, which was conquered by the armies of Chinggis Khan in the early 13th century and consolidated by his descendants. The Mongol origin of the Hazaras is attested by their high cheekbones and sparse beards.
Over half a million Hazaras living in Pakistan, especially in the Quetta district, are Afghan refugees who settled in the city following the 1979 Soviet invasion of Afghanistan and the subsequent outbreak of the Afghan civil war. They are the frequent target of attacks in Afghanistan as well as in Pakistan by sectarian-cum-militant groups.
Those investigating the upsurge in sectarian attacks in Quetta believe the dreadful tendency has something to do with the recent release of Malik Mohammad Ishaq, the operational chief of the Lashkar-e-Jhangvi who had been charged with involvement in 100-plus sectarian murders but released by the Supreme Court on bail due to “lack of evidence”. Malik Ishaq’s release instantly caused sectarian tensions that were prompted by the sectarian sermons he began delivering while touring Punjab, coupled with the release of an open letter addressed to the Hazara community living in Quetta.
Therefore, on September 21, 2011 hardly 24 hours after the bloodbath in Mastung, Malik Ishaq was placed under temporary house arrest in Rahim Yar Khan, with district police officer Sohail Chattha saying: “Ishaq’s conduct has endangered sectarian harmony and caused a sudden rise in the sectarian temperature in the country.”
According to Punjab police records, after being arrested by Punjab police in 1997 on charges of involvement in 102 murders, Ishaq confessed to committing 11 and abetting 57 other killings. But according to Ishaq’s lawyer, Misbahul Haq, who pleaded his bail case in the Supreme Court, his client was acquitted in 35 cases because of “lack of evidence”, and granted bail in eight cases and discharged in one case.
The last charge leveled against him was masterminding from his jail cell the March 2009 terrorist attack targeting a bus carrying the Sri Lankan cricket team in Lahore. During subsequent investigations, it transpired that the LeJ attackers wanted to take hostage the cricket team to get Ishaq released. He was bailed out anyway by the Supreme Court “due to lack of evidence and the weak case of the prosecution”, as observed by two apex court judges while bailing him out against a surety bond of a million rupees.
While giving its verdict, a division bench of the apex court comprising Justice Shahid Siddiqui and Justice Asif Khosa expressed dissatisfaction over the poor performance of the prosecution in establishing its case against the accused.
The court observed that the prosecution produced only two witnesses who stated that they had heard conversations between some people planning to take the Sri Lankan cricket team hostage to get Ishaq released. The bench censured the prosecutor general of Punjab, saying: “The judiciary has to face the wrath of the public when it releases such accused due to lack of evidence and weak case of the prosecution.”
On the other hand, Malik Ishaq said in a brief media talk after being set free: “We were never terrorists and killers and the apex court has also proven that.” He was cheered by hundreds of LeJ activists and showered with rose petals as he walked from a high-security prison in Lahore to a waiting land cruiser that was surrounded by dozens of his arms-wielding supporters. The million-dollar questions remains: are the Pakistani authorities incapable or unwilling to stop the march of al-Qaeda-linked LeJ as it goes about its goal of radicalizing Pakistan.
THE NEWS
Wednesday, October 5, 2011
Opposition members call for Governor's Rule in Balochistan
05 October, 2011
ISLAMABAD: Federal ministers, PPP parliamentarians and opposition members unleashed severe criticism on the government for the continuous killing of members of the Hazara Shia community in Balochistan, demanding the imposition of governor's rule in the province and asking the federal government to resign.
Amidst the ruckus, Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani, who arrived late, did not utter a single word on the issue of the massacre of Shias in Balochistan. Federal Minister for Inter Provincial Coordination Riaz Pirzada who hails from PML-Q, PPP members Farahnaz Isphahani, Nadeem Afzal Chan, Nasir Ali Shah, Hamid Saeed Kazmi and Sardar Ayaz Sadiq (PML-N) and Bushra Gohar (ANP) grilled the federal and provincial governments and official agencies for their failure to control the target killing of Shias in Balochistan.
Fireworks began when PML-Q's Amir Muqaam Shamla said he had handed his resignation as a member of the federal cabinet to his party parliamentary leader and the prime minister (then present in the house) but it had not been accepted. He also demanded shifting his seat from the treasury to the opposition benches.
Federal Minister Riaz Pirzada said governor's rule should be imposed in Balochistan and Sindh because of the failure to control target killings and that the federal government should also resign if it could not arrest the deteriorating law and order situation.
"All security and intelligence agencies and institutions have failed to control the situation and arrest the culprits," said Pirzada. "The principle of self-accountability demands that the federal and provincial governments quit. Why are they not taking any concrete action against extremist and terrorist organisations in Balochistan and Punjab?" he said.
Riaz Pirzada, while demanding that the federal government resign, did not offer his own resignation as a cabinet member. Earlier, PPP member Farahnaz raised the issue of the Hazaras and said members of the community were being constantly targeted in Balochistan. She also asked the interior minister to take cognisance of the situation so that the killing of the innocent community could be stopped. Farahnaz recalled that 30 Shia devotees had been killed just a few days ago. "What are the Balochistan governor and chief minister doing in Islamabad? They should go to Balochistan and control the situation there," she said.
PPP parliamentarian Nasir Ali Shah who also hails from the Shia community, said he would not sit in the house and would continue to stage a protest in front of the Parliament House till governor's rule was imposed in Balochistan. "There is no need to constitute any commission; just impose governor's rule in the province," Nasir Shah said, before walking out of the house.
He also questioned why the provincial government, agencies and police had not been able to stop target killings and arrest killers. "There is no use of a government which cannot ensure the protection to the masses," he said. PPP's Nadeem Afzal Chan said the prime minister and the interior minister would have to explain the killing the Shia community in Balochistan. He warned the government to stop the target killings of Shias, otherwise they would have to turn to another country. "Arrest the situation before they look to some other country to help them deal with their grievances," he said.
An independent member from Balochistan, advocate Usman, alleged that some members of the Balochistan cabinet, MPAs and government agencies were involved in target killings. "Some Balochistan ministers and members of the provincial assembly are also involved in criminal acts of murder, robberies and kidnapping for ransom as also mentioned in the commission's report," he said, adding that target killers always took refugee in a circuit house and another building near the residence of FC Commandant Khazdar after committing crimes.
ANP's Bushra Gohar said some heads must roll and the Balohchistan governor and chief minister should resign and admit their failures.
PML-N's Sardar Ayaz Sadiq said the continuous killing of members of the Shia community in Balochistan had exposed that the federal and provincial governments had no writ in the province. "We do not believe in the assurances of Rehman Malik and the government which cannot expose and arrest the assassins of their chairperson Benazir Bhutto," he said.
Awais Leghari and Asiya Nasir also criticised the federal and provincial governments. "We will block the main highway from Punjab to Balochistan if the government does not stop the suspension of electricity to Dera Ghazi Khan from the grid station in Balochistan by some criminals there," said Leghari. He added that advocate Usman was right in saying that some Balochistan ministers and members were involved in killings and kidnapping for ransom cases.
End.
PAK TRIBUNE
ISLAMABAD: Federal ministers, PPP parliamentarians and opposition members unleashed severe criticism on the government for the continuous killing of members of the Hazara Shia community in Balochistan, demanding the imposition of governor's rule in the province and asking the federal government to resign.
Amidst the ruckus, Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani, who arrived late, did not utter a single word on the issue of the massacre of Shias in Balochistan. Federal Minister for Inter Provincial Coordination Riaz Pirzada who hails from PML-Q, PPP members Farahnaz Isphahani, Nadeem Afzal Chan, Nasir Ali Shah, Hamid Saeed Kazmi and Sardar Ayaz Sadiq (PML-N) and Bushra Gohar (ANP) grilled the federal and provincial governments and official agencies for their failure to control the target killing of Shias in Balochistan.
Fireworks began when PML-Q's Amir Muqaam Shamla said he had handed his resignation as a member of the federal cabinet to his party parliamentary leader and the prime minister (then present in the house) but it had not been accepted. He also demanded shifting his seat from the treasury to the opposition benches.
Federal Minister Riaz Pirzada said governor's rule should be imposed in Balochistan and Sindh because of the failure to control target killings and that the federal government should also resign if it could not arrest the deteriorating law and order situation.
"All security and intelligence agencies and institutions have failed to control the situation and arrest the culprits," said Pirzada. "The principle of self-accountability demands that the federal and provincial governments quit. Why are they not taking any concrete action against extremist and terrorist organisations in Balochistan and Punjab?" he said.
Riaz Pirzada, while demanding that the federal government resign, did not offer his own resignation as a cabinet member. Earlier, PPP member Farahnaz raised the issue of the Hazaras and said members of the community were being constantly targeted in Balochistan. She also asked the interior minister to take cognisance of the situation so that the killing of the innocent community could be stopped. Farahnaz recalled that 30 Shia devotees had been killed just a few days ago. "What are the Balochistan governor and chief minister doing in Islamabad? They should go to Balochistan and control the situation there," she said.
PPP parliamentarian Nasir Ali Shah who also hails from the Shia community, said he would not sit in the house and would continue to stage a protest in front of the Parliament House till governor's rule was imposed in Balochistan. "There is no need to constitute any commission; just impose governor's rule in the province," Nasir Shah said, before walking out of the house.
He also questioned why the provincial government, agencies and police had not been able to stop target killings and arrest killers. "There is no use of a government which cannot ensure the protection to the masses," he said. PPP's Nadeem Afzal Chan said the prime minister and the interior minister would have to explain the killing the Shia community in Balochistan. He warned the government to stop the target killings of Shias, otherwise they would have to turn to another country. "Arrest the situation before they look to some other country to help them deal with their grievances," he said.
An independent member from Balochistan, advocate Usman, alleged that some members of the Balochistan cabinet, MPAs and government agencies were involved in target killings. "Some Balochistan ministers and members of the provincial assembly are also involved in criminal acts of murder, robberies and kidnapping for ransom as also mentioned in the commission's report," he said, adding that target killers always took refugee in a circuit house and another building near the residence of FC Commandant Khazdar after committing crimes.
ANP's Bushra Gohar said some heads must roll and the Balohchistan governor and chief minister should resign and admit their failures.
PML-N's Sardar Ayaz Sadiq said the continuous killing of members of the Shia community in Balochistan had exposed that the federal and provincial governments had no writ in the province. "We do not believe in the assurances of Rehman Malik and the government which cannot expose and arrest the assassins of their chairperson Benazir Bhutto," he said.
Awais Leghari and Asiya Nasir also criticised the federal and provincial governments. "We will block the main highway from Punjab to Balochistan if the government does not stop the suspension of electricity to Dera Ghazi Khan from the grid station in Balochistan by some criminals there," said Leghari. He added that advocate Usman was right in saying that some Balochistan ministers and members were involved in killings and kidnapping for ransom cases.
End.
PAK TRIBUNE
From our Hazara peoples incarcerated in SCHERGER.
Wed 05 Oct 2011
By Gerry Georgatos
Global/International
From:
Subject: stop systematic genocide of Hazaras
To: "Gerry Georgatos"
Received: Wednesday, 5 October, 2011, 12:15 PM
STOP SYSTEMATIC GENOCIDE OF HAZARAS
Unfortunatly after terrible terrorist attack at EID UL FITR (31/08/2011)in Quetta pakistan,our tears not yet become dry that another terror attack happened by cruel and ruthless terrorist at(20/092011) even seperate Hazaras passenger from others,and pull off them & shot fire on their heads & killed 29 inocent HAZARAS.
3 days after this incident,...another incide...nt happened at (23/9/2011)they killed 3 more inocent HAZARA while they were going for work.
Concequently after 11 days(yesterday) (4/10/2011)the same terrorist group killed 14 inocent HAZARAS.
If we see carefully to this these four unhumalitate incident that happened within a month,it makes transparent that we (HAZARAS)are not only facing an extemist ignorance group ever we face the agencies wich orginise and work on kiling of inocent HAZARAS.
We all HAZARA asylum sekers of Scherger IDC QLD Australia condumn this unhumalitate incidents on HAZARAS and we demand followings;
(1)Government of pakistan should immdiatley control the genocide of HAZARAS & give them protection.
(2)on the behind of this sectrian group should be recognized retilate and punished them.
(3)We kindly appeal from UN & all hummaintarian groups & all democratical countries to pressuries on the government of pakistan to control the genocide of HAZARAS & give them justice.
(4)We appeal from government of Australia and all humanitarian groups of Australia as a host country that condem terrorist attacks against inocent HAZARAS & pressurised the government of pakistan should take action against the systametic genocide of HAZARAS &protect the inocent HAZARA people.
HAZARA ASYLUM SEEKERS OF SCHERGER IDC
HI SIR
i hope ur fine.sir scherger Hazara asylum seeker held a peacefullprotest cz of target killing of hazaras.plz send this to all world media that what is going on inocent Hazaras.
Independent Media Center Australia
By Gerry Georgatos
Global/International
From:
Subject: stop systematic genocide of Hazaras
To: "Gerry Georgatos"
Received: Wednesday, 5 October, 2011, 12:15 PM
STOP SYSTEMATIC GENOCIDE OF HAZARAS
Unfortunatly after terrible terrorist attack at EID UL FITR (31/08/2011)in Quetta pakistan,our tears not yet become dry that another terror attack happened by cruel and ruthless terrorist at(20/092011) even seperate Hazaras passenger from others,and pull off them & shot fire on their heads & killed 29 inocent HAZARAS.
3 days after this incident,...another incide...nt happened at (23/9/2011)they killed 3 more inocent HAZARA while they were going for work.
Concequently after 11 days(yesterday) (4/10/2011)the same terrorist group killed 14 inocent HAZARAS.
If we see carefully to this these four unhumalitate incident that happened within a month,it makes transparent that we (HAZARAS)are not only facing an extemist ignorance group ever we face the agencies wich orginise and work on kiling of inocent HAZARAS.
We all HAZARA asylum sekers of Scherger IDC QLD Australia condumn this unhumalitate incidents on HAZARAS and we demand followings;
(1)Government of pakistan should immdiatley control the genocide of HAZARAS & give them protection.
(2)on the behind of this sectrian group should be recognized retilate and punished them.
(3)We kindly appeal from UN & all hummaintarian groups & all democratical countries to pressuries on the government of pakistan to control the genocide of HAZARAS & give them justice.
(4)We appeal from government of Australia and all humanitarian groups of Australia as a host country that condem terrorist attacks against inocent HAZARAS & pressurised the government of pakistan should take action against the systametic genocide of HAZARAS &protect the inocent HAZARA people.
HAZARA ASYLUM SEEKERS OF SCHERGER IDC
HI SIR
i hope ur fine.sir scherger Hazara asylum seeker held a peacefullprotest cz of target killing of hazaras.plz send this to all world media that what is going on inocent Hazaras.
Independent Media Center Australia
Who are the Hazara?
By Imran Yusuf
Published: October 5, 2011
Pakistani Shiite Muslims mourn next to coffins of their community members during a funeral ceremony in Quetta on October 4, 2011. PHOTO: AFP
KARACHI:
There are over 900,000 Hazara living in Pakistan, a figure larger than the population of Washington DC. Yet this is a vulnerable community, besieged by anti-Shia violence on one side and drawing suspicion and indifference in equal measure on the other.
Old news, a Hazara might say, as a brief look at the community’s past reveals a tradition of persecution, of which yesterday’s attack in Quetta is but the latest atrocity.
The origins of the Hazara are disputed, though there are three primary theories. The Hazara could be of Turko-Mongol ancestry, descendants of an occupying army left in Afghanistan by Genghis Khan. A second theory goes back two millennia to the Kushan Dynasty, when Bamiyan in Afghanistan – home to the large statues blown up by the Taliban – was a centre of Buddhist civilisation. Subscribers to this idea point to the similar facial structure of the Hazaras with those of Buddhist murals and statues in the region.
The most widely-accepted theory is something of a compromise: that the Hazara are mixed-race. Certain Mongol tribes did travel to eastern Persia and what is modern-day Afghanistan, putting down roots and integrating with the indigenous community. This group then formed their own community which became the Hazara, with their distinctive facial features, sometimes termed Mongoloid, which bear the origins of their central Asian ancestry.
Either way the Hazara settled in central Afghanistan, though in the mid-19th Century their brutal history of persecution began when more than half their population was killed or forced into exile.
The Pashtun Amir Abdul Rehman, who the British termed Afghanistan’s Iron Amir during the Raj, invaded the Hazara homeland in the country’s central highlands, forcing them to give up land, and pushing many into exile in Balochistan.
There was already Hazara movement into British India by this point, with migrants working in labour-intensity jobs such as mining. Some Hazaras also came to Quetta during the 19th Century to work on the construction of Indian railways. However, the majority were forced to leave by Rehman’s ethnic cleansing.
But the Hazaras’ history is not exclusively one of victimhood. In 1907 British officer Colonel Claude Jacob raised a regiment made up solely of Hazaras, who had developed a reputation for martial strength, perhaps based on a romanticisation of their possible lineage to Genghis Khan.
The Hazaras who did not make the military cut found jobs as unskilled labourers, for despite their knowledge of agriculture, they owned no land in their new territory.
Quetta’s 1935 earthquake actually helped the Hazara community in some ways. The migration away from the city after the disaster opened up positions in semi-skilled labour, which led some Hazaras to become shopkeepers, tailors and mechanics.
The Second World War saw more Hazaras enlisted by the British Indian Army. Some thrived: one of them was General Musa Khan, who led Pakistan in the 1965 war against India.
Since Partition, however, the Hazaras have remained an underprivileged community. Currently between 500,000 and 600,000 live in Quetta, spread over two slums in the east and west of the city. A large proportion of their income is remittance payments from Iran, the Gulf, Europe and Australia.
Among the Hazara in Quetta are tens of thousands of new migrants escaping the wrath of the Taliban. Persecution of Hazaras persists in Afghanistan, where the Taliban have shown no let-up in their attack on Shias, burning villages and kidnapping community members, forcing further emigration into Pakistan.
In Pakistan, the sectarian violence also has a geopolitical context, with a deeply-embedded belief that the Hazara receive Iranian support. General Zia allowed state actors to support anti-Hazara groups for this reason. As mentioned by columnist Ejaz Haider in this newspaper recently, the view of the Hazara as Iranian proxies still persists in Balochistan.
Four days ago, rallies in Australia, the US, the UK, Austria, Norway, Denmark and Canada marked an international day of protest against the unending wave of attacks on Hazaras in Pakistan. The call has evidently not been heard. Indeed, approximately 250 Hazara citizens of Pakistan have been killed in the past three years.
Published in The Express Tribune, October 5th, 2011.
Published: October 5, 2011
KARACHI:
There are over 900,000 Hazara living in Pakistan, a figure larger than the population of Washington DC. Yet this is a vulnerable community, besieged by anti-Shia violence on one side and drawing suspicion and indifference in equal measure on the other.
Old news, a Hazara might say, as a brief look at the community’s past reveals a tradition of persecution, of which yesterday’s attack in Quetta is but the latest atrocity.
The origins of the Hazara are disputed, though there are three primary theories. The Hazara could be of Turko-Mongol ancestry, descendants of an occupying army left in Afghanistan by Genghis Khan. A second theory goes back two millennia to the Kushan Dynasty, when Bamiyan in Afghanistan – home to the large statues blown up by the Taliban – was a centre of Buddhist civilisation. Subscribers to this idea point to the similar facial structure of the Hazaras with those of Buddhist murals and statues in the region.
The most widely-accepted theory is something of a compromise: that the Hazara are mixed-race. Certain Mongol tribes did travel to eastern Persia and what is modern-day Afghanistan, putting down roots and integrating with the indigenous community. This group then formed their own community which became the Hazara, with their distinctive facial features, sometimes termed Mongoloid, which bear the origins of their central Asian ancestry.
Either way the Hazara settled in central Afghanistan, though in the mid-19th Century their brutal history of persecution began when more than half their population was killed or forced into exile.
The Pashtun Amir Abdul Rehman, who the British termed Afghanistan’s Iron Amir during the Raj, invaded the Hazara homeland in the country’s central highlands, forcing them to give up land, and pushing many into exile in Balochistan.
There was already Hazara movement into British India by this point, with migrants working in labour-intensity jobs such as mining. Some Hazaras also came to Quetta during the 19th Century to work on the construction of Indian railways. However, the majority were forced to leave by Rehman’s ethnic cleansing.
But the Hazaras’ history is not exclusively one of victimhood. In 1907 British officer Colonel Claude Jacob raised a regiment made up solely of Hazaras, who had developed a reputation for martial strength, perhaps based on a romanticisation of their possible lineage to Genghis Khan.
The Hazaras who did not make the military cut found jobs as unskilled labourers, for despite their knowledge of agriculture, they owned no land in their new territory.
Quetta’s 1935 earthquake actually helped the Hazara community in some ways. The migration away from the city after the disaster opened up positions in semi-skilled labour, which led some Hazaras to become shopkeepers, tailors and mechanics.
The Second World War saw more Hazaras enlisted by the British Indian Army. Some thrived: one of them was General Musa Khan, who led Pakistan in the 1965 war against India.
Since Partition, however, the Hazaras have remained an underprivileged community. Currently between 500,000 and 600,000 live in Quetta, spread over two slums in the east and west of the city. A large proportion of their income is remittance payments from Iran, the Gulf, Europe and Australia.
Among the Hazara in Quetta are tens of thousands of new migrants escaping the wrath of the Taliban. Persecution of Hazaras persists in Afghanistan, where the Taliban have shown no let-up in their attack on Shias, burning villages and kidnapping community members, forcing further emigration into Pakistan.
In Pakistan, the sectarian violence also has a geopolitical context, with a deeply-embedded belief that the Hazara receive Iranian support. General Zia allowed state actors to support anti-Hazara groups for this reason. As mentioned by columnist Ejaz Haider in this newspaper recently, the view of the Hazara as Iranian proxies still persists in Balochistan.
Four days ago, rallies in Australia, the US, the UK, Austria, Norway, Denmark and Canada marked an international day of protest against the unending wave of attacks on Hazaras in Pakistan. The call has evidently not been heard. Indeed, approximately 250 Hazara citizens of Pakistan have been killed in the past three years.
Published in The Express Tribune, October 5th, 2011.
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