Tuesday, July 16, 2013
Monday, July 15, 2013
Four Shia Hazaras gunned down in Quetta: police
DAWN.COM and SYED ALI SHAH
Photo shows the vehicle of the four victims of the gun attack in Quetta on July 15, 2013.—Photo by Online
QUETTA: Gunmen opened fire at a vehicle in Quetta on Monday, killing four men belonging to the ethnic Shia Hazara community, police said.
Fayyaz Sumbal, the Deputy Inspector General Police, said four militants sprayed bullets on the victims who were travelling in the vehicle on Masjid road area of Quetta, the capital of militancy-hit Balochistan province.
All four men sitting in the vehicle were seriously wounded and succumbed to their injuries on their way to the Combined Military Hospital, he said.
Capital City Police Officer Mir Zubair Mehmood confirmed that all four victims belonged to the Hazara Shia community. Mehmood said security had been tightened following the attack and that the number of personnel guarding all exit and entry points of Quetta city had been doubled.
Quetta has witnessed a recent surge in incidents of sectarian violence, with militants repeatedly targeting the Hazara Shia community in several bombings and gun-attacks.
The Hazara Democratic Party and other Shia organisations have called for three days of mourning and a shutter-down strike on Tuesday in protest of the attack.
Monday’s incident comes exactly two weeks after a deadly suicide bombing at a Quetta Imambargah killed 30 members of the minority community. The Lashkar-i-Jhangvi had claimed responsibility for the blast, one of a series of attacks this year by the sectarian outfit targeting the Hazaras.
Meanwhile in a statement issued Monday evening, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif strongly condemned the firing incident and expressed his condolences to the bereaved families. Governor Mohammad Khan Achakzai also condemned the attack.
‘Peace only solution to Balochistan’s problems’
Earlier on Monday, the provincial chief of the ruling Pakistan Muslim League – Nawaz (PML-N), Nawab Sanaullah Zehri, termed the restoration of peace vital for prosperity of the militancy-hit province.
“Peace is the only panacea to all ills of Balochistan,” the senior provincial minister told a press conference at his residence.
Nawab Zehri said Balochistan’s problem was neither the construction of motorways nor development projects rather the worsening law and order problem was the first and foremost issue.
“Construction of motorways does not answer the problem of peace in the province,” he said.
The senior minister expressed serious concerns over the worsening law and order situation and vowed to work with allied parties for restoration of peace in Balochistan.
He said once the cabinet is formed then the allied political parties leaders would put their heads together to find an amicable solution to issues relating to the sparsely populated province of the country.
Photo shows the vehicle of the four victims of the gun attack in Quetta on July 15, 2013.—Photo by Online
QUETTA: Gunmen opened fire at a vehicle in Quetta on Monday, killing four men belonging to the ethnic Shia Hazara community, police said.
Fayyaz Sumbal, the Deputy Inspector General Police, said four militants sprayed bullets on the victims who were travelling in the vehicle on Masjid road area of Quetta, the capital of militancy-hit Balochistan province.
All four men sitting in the vehicle were seriously wounded and succumbed to their injuries on their way to the Combined Military Hospital, he said.
Capital City Police Officer Mir Zubair Mehmood confirmed that all four victims belonged to the Hazara Shia community. Mehmood said security had been tightened following the attack and that the number of personnel guarding all exit and entry points of Quetta city had been doubled.
Quetta has witnessed a recent surge in incidents of sectarian violence, with militants repeatedly targeting the Hazara Shia community in several bombings and gun-attacks.
The Hazara Democratic Party and other Shia organisations have called for three days of mourning and a shutter-down strike on Tuesday in protest of the attack.
Monday’s incident comes exactly two weeks after a deadly suicide bombing at a Quetta Imambargah killed 30 members of the minority community. The Lashkar-i-Jhangvi had claimed responsibility for the blast, one of a series of attacks this year by the sectarian outfit targeting the Hazaras.
Meanwhile in a statement issued Monday evening, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif strongly condemned the firing incident and expressed his condolences to the bereaved families. Governor Mohammad Khan Achakzai also condemned the attack.
‘Peace only solution to Balochistan’s problems’
Earlier on Monday, the provincial chief of the ruling Pakistan Muslim League – Nawaz (PML-N), Nawab Sanaullah Zehri, termed the restoration of peace vital for prosperity of the militancy-hit province.
“Peace is the only panacea to all ills of Balochistan,” the senior provincial minister told a press conference at his residence.
Nawab Zehri said Balochistan’s problem was neither the construction of motorways nor development projects rather the worsening law and order problem was the first and foremost issue.
“Construction of motorways does not answer the problem of peace in the province,” he said.
The senior minister expressed serious concerns over the worsening law and order situation and vowed to work with allied parties for restoration of peace in Balochistan.
He said once the cabinet is formed then the allied political parties leaders would put their heads together to find an amicable solution to issues relating to the sparsely populated province of the country.
کوئٹہ میں فائرنگ سے ہزارہ برادری کے چار افراد جاں بحق
Updated on: 8:55:35 PM پیر, 15 جولائی 201
اسٹاف رپورٹر
کوئٹہ: رمضان المبارک کے مقدس مہینے میں بھی دہشت گرد موت بانٹنے کا خوفناک کھیل کھیل رہے ہیں اور بلا روک ٹوک بے گناہوں کے خون سے اپنے ہاتھ رنگ رہے ہیں۔
کوئٹہ میں افطار کے وقت قاتلوں نے چار افراد پرگولیاں برسا کرانھیں موت کی نیند سلادیا۔
دہشت گردوں نے کوئٹہ کی مسجد روڈ پرایک گاڑی کو نشانہ بنایا اوراندھا دھند گولیاں برسا دیں۔ فائرنگ سے گاڑی میں سوار چارافراد جاں بحق ہوگئے۔
ہزارہ ڈیموکریٹک پارٹی نے احتجاجاً کل شٹرڈاؤن ہڑتال اوربلوچستان شیعہ کانفرنس نے یوم سوگ منانے کا اعلان کیا ہے۔
جاں بحق افراد کاتعلق ہزارہ برادری سے ہے۔
واقعے کے خلاف ہزارہ ڈیموکریٹک پارٹی نے کل شٹرڈاؤن ہڑتال ۔جبکہ بلوچستان شیعہ کانفرنس نے یوم سوگ کااعلان کردیا ہے۔
Friday, July 12, 2013
Spare a Thought for the Hazaras of Quetta
Llewelyn Morgan
Posted: 11/07/2013 22:51
A month ago, on June 15th, a bus carrying students home from the Sardar Bahadur Khan Women's University in Quetta, Pakistan, was hit by a female suicide bomber. The bus was destroyed and fourteen passengers left dead; but that wasn't the end of it. The militant group behind the bombing, Lashkar-e Jhangvi (LeJ), then attacked the Bolan Medical Complex, where the injured had been taken and anxious relatives were gathering, killing four nurses, among others. We sometimes need to be reminded how utterly depraved the ideology is that drives jihadist groups like the LeJ. University students are blown up, and a hospital is attacked to intimidate and murder those ministering to the victims.
But who are Lashkar-e Jhangvi's victims? The simple answer is, Muslims from the alternative, Shia tradition of Islam. A brutal campaign targeting the Shia minority in Pakistan has been going on for years, with Sunni militant groups like Lashkar-e Jhangvi declaring the Shia heretics and "deserving of death"; and they have encountered scandalously little opposition from the Pakistani authorities, elements of which are quite clearly complicit with the LeJ's agenda. Extremists of the LeJ's stripe consider fair game anyone who hold beliefs different from their own (Christians, Ahmadi Muslims, etc.), but a particular focus of attacks has been the Hazara community in Quetta, descendants of refugees from Afghanistan who are predominantly Shia, and have distinctive, east-Asian features, making them readily identifiable targets....Continue Reading...
Saturday, July 6, 2013
Friday, July 5, 2013
Does Pakistan have a plan to halt terrorism?
AP
This Sunday, June 30, 2013 photo shows a army standing alert at the site of car bombing that killed more than a dozen people and left many injured in Peshawar, Pakistan. There is concern that the country's leaders lack a coherent strategy to fight the pervasive problem of violent extremism. — AP Photo.
Published 2013-07-05 14:11:31
ISLAMABAD: Terrorists have killed at least 160 people during the new Pakistani government's first month in office, fueling concern that the country's leaders lack a coherent strategy to fight the pervasive problem of violent extremism.
The ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) scored a resounding victory in national elections in May with a platform that promoted peace talks as the best way to quell a systematic campaign by the Pakistani Taliban which has killed thousands of people. The plan quickly fell apart after the Taliban withdrew their offer to talk in response to a US drone strike that killed the group's deputy leader at the end of May.
The government has yet to articulate an alternate strategy, and in the meantime, the attacks keep coming. ''The government is completely confused over the terrorism problem,'' said Zahid Hussain, whose books plot the rise of militancy in Pakistan. ''The government's indecisiveness and dithering has emboldened the militants.''
At least 160 people were killed in suspected militant attacks in June, according to an Associated Press count. It was the second most deaths in a month this year, following April, when there were many attacks related to the election, said Mohammed Amir Rana, head of the Islamabad-based Pakistan Institute for Peace Studies. Hussain and other analysts said the government failed to respond aggressively enough to the attacks over the last month. The government mostly relied on routine press releases that criticized the violence and expressed sorrow for the dead, but made no mention of who carried them out or how they would respond.
The government has taken a few public steps to show it is dealing with the attacks, which included the killing of international tourists at a scenic mountain, a suicide bombing of women university students and an attack on a funeral that killed a lawmaker. On Tuesday, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif flew to Quetta, which has recently been the base for repeated attacks on the Hazara community. He brought senior security officials with him, including the head of the powerful Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI)...Continue Reading...
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