overview
Hazaras’ thousand woes
The killings have prompted the younger generation of Hazaras to migrate to the West 
By Rahimullah Yusufzai
Pakistan has become a killing field of people from different communities in recent years, but one community that has suffered the most and has been singled out for target-killings are the Hazara Shias. 
The Hazaras are a distinct ethnic group living mostly in Afghanistan and having a visible presence in Pakistan and Iran. Lately, a growing number of members of the community have settled in Western countries in search of security and livelihood.

“The first priority is security”
Sardar Saadat Ali Khan belongs to the Sardar family of the 
Hazara community
By Rahimullah Yusufzai
Being the head of the Hazara community, Sardar Saadat Ali Khan was in the news recently. He belongs to the Sardar family and is nephew of late Pakistan Army chief General Muhammad Musa.
Sardar Saadat’s father, Sardar Muhammad Isa Khan, was one of three sons of Sardar Yazdan Khan, who was a descendant of Sardar Sher Ali Khan, a Hazara elder from Joghori in Afghanistan. This is a family of Khans among the Hazaras and enjoys respect as the sardars of the tribe. Unlike the powerful landowning Baloch sardars, the Hazara sardars work in an honorary capacity. 

Regime change
Imposition of the governor’s rule in Balochistan generates a mixed response
By Alefia T. Hussain
Time was of essence last Sunday. As the night wore on, the PM, along with representatives of coalition and other parties, had little choice but to act – and concede to the demand of the peacefully demonstrating Hazara Shias.
So, in an extraordinary late-night decision on Jan 13, Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf dismissed the Aslam Raisani government and imposed the governor’s rule in Balochistan under Article 234 of the Constitution. It was only after this decision that the Hazaras, who had been protesting against the Jan 10 target killing in subzero temperature, agreed to end the sit-in on Quetta’s Alamdar Road — and bury 100 bodies of their people four days after they were massacred in three bomb attacks. 

Editorial
The sectarian killings are not new to Balochistan or Quetta; both have been a major flashpoint in terms of sectarian violence since the 1990s. The killing of Hazara Shia in particular has a racial dimension too because this community, with its distinctive features, is 100 per cent Shia. This fact alone has come to harm them, and whereas other Shias elsewhere are sometimes killed in isolated cases of target killing, the Hazara have always been killed in hordes.

target
Who is killing them?
While different terrorist outfits get their acts together against Shias in Balochistan, the state remains disturbingly inactive
By Muhammad Amir Rana
Sectarian target killings of members of Hazara community have become a regular feature of Balochistan’s security landscape. Anti-Shia sectarian outfits have a significant presence in Balochistan. These outfits are pursuing their agendas with relative freedom compared to the nationalist insurgents and the Afghan Taliban. 
In Balochistan, the number of sectarian attacks and clashes increased by 195 per cent in 2012, compared to 2011, and the number of fatalities and the injured in these attacks by around 62 percent and 239 per cent, respectively. 

“Our only demand is that the state should establish its writ in Balochistan”
— Abdul Khaliq Hazara, Chairman Hazara Democratic Party
By Aoun Sahi
The News on Sunday: Do you think imposition of the governor’s rule in Balochistan would help the cause of Hazaras?
Abdul Khaliq Hazara: In fact, imposition of the governor’s rule was not a demand of the Hazara Democratic Party (HDP). We are not in favour of army control in Quetta. 

Excerpts from Report of an HRCP’s fact finding mission, “Hopes, fears and alienation in Balochistan,” 
May 15-19, 2012

Vulnerable communities
The HRCP mission held detailed discussions with representatives of sectarian and religious minority communities and sought their guidance in understanding if any trend in the context had been positive. The persecution of the Hazara community dominated the discussion and even members of non-Muslim communities sympathised with them.

 

 

 


overview
Hazaras’ thousand woes
The killings have prompted the younger generation of Hazaras to migrate to the West 
By Rahimullah Yusufzai

Pakistan has become a killing field of people from different communities in recent years, but one community that has suffered the most and has been singled out for target-killings are the Hazara Shias.

The Hazaras are a distinct ethnic group living mostly in Afghanistan and having a visible presence in Pakistan and Iran. Lately, a growing number of members of the community have settled in Western countries in search of security and livelihood.

The Hazaras have traditionally faced persecution at the hands of some Afghan kings, primarily Amir Abdur Rahman Khan, and other ethnic groups due to sectarian and ethnic reasons. They were originally living in central Afghanistan, but many had to migrate to neighbouring countries, such as Iran and undivided India to escape attacks. In due course of time, the Hazara community gained a foothold in Quetta by serving in the British army and doing other tough jobs. Soldiering has been part of the Hazara life and a proportionally high number having been serving in both the Afghan and Pakistani armed forces.

According to Professor Nazir Hussain, who opted for retirement as the first principal of the prestigious Government General Musa College, Quetta Cantonment in December 1995 after serving for five years, the Hazaras first settled down in the plain at the foot of the Koh-i-Murdar mountain range in Quetta and set up the Marriabad, named after the Marri Baloch tribe who were herders and lived seasonally in huts in the area.  “The Hazara population grew after 1920s and from Alamdar Road, previously known as Barnes Road, to the lap of the Koh-i-Murdar houses were built across the mounds and seasonal streams. It was known as Ward No 7 of the municipality and was sited close to Quetta Cantonment. It later became part of the provincial assembly constituency, PB-2 Quetta, from where Hazara candidates have often been elected,” he explained.

Prof Nazir Hussain said new colonies of the Hazaras, such as Gulistan, Brohi (Brewery) and Hazara Town also sprang up and members of the community with money mostly sent from abroad were able to buy or build houses there. He said Hazara refugees from Afghanistan, too, settled in these new colonies and many used Quetta as a staging point for migrating to some Western country, mostly Australia.

Hussain said until recently the Hazaras lived in peace achieving the highest literacy levels in Balochistan and prospering as businessmen. “We had excellent ties with the Pashtuns and Baloch. It was during the General Ziaul Haq era that his policy of segregation brought a change in the situation. Now we are suffering from social anarchy and the Hazaras in particular are living in “Jewish ghettoes,” he remarked.

Lashkar-i-Jhangvi, the extremist Sunni militant group banned by the government in 2002, has been claiming responsibility for the attacks against the Hazaras primarily due to the fact that they are Shias. Like the other outlawed militants groups, it has managed to operate and carry out attacks by selecting its targets at will.

Analysing the situation, a Hazara elder Air Commodore (Retd) Shaukat Hyder felt many hands were involved in the violence raging in Pakistan and directed at the Hazaras and others. He said the names of certain institutions were also mentioned, but it would be incorrect to do finger-pointing without evidence. “Nobody knows who is fighting whom and at whose behest in these battles of proxies. But we know that the Hazaras have been mercilessly killed and still there was no reaction by those with power to protect them. There was controlled deployment of the Frontier Corps and the police was helpless,” he argued. “Finally, the Hazaras decided to stage peaceful protest by putting up the bodies of their loved ones on the road in sub-zero temperatures. We showed patience and it paid off,” he opined.

Members of the Hazara community have risen to high positions, particularly in Pakistan’s armed forces. The most prominent was General Muhammad Musa Khan, who served as Chief of Army Staff from 1958-1966 and led the troops in the 1965 war against India under the overall command of Field Marshal Ayub Khan, who at the time was also President of Pakistan.

Musa was loyal to Ayub Khan as he continued to oversee the professional development of the army to enable the latter to concentrate on his politics without giving up his military uniform. Musa was a religious man and had left a will to be buried in Mashhad, the Iranian city sacred to the Shias as the burial place of their eighth Imam Reza. Musa’s body was taken to Mashshad and buried in the cemetery in the Imam Reza shrine complex. Incidentally, his grave is close to that of Raja Sahib Mahmoodabad, a freedom fighter against British colonial rule in India.

Musa’s son-in-law Air Marshal Sharbat Ali Changezi was another member of the Hazara ethnic group who occupied a high position in the Pakistan Air Force (PAF). Many other Hazaras served as officers in the armed forces and some are still in service. Saira Batool, one of the four female pilots inducted for the first time into PAF, is also an ethnic Hazara.

According to Air Commodore (Retd) Shaukat Hyder, three military officers of his Hazara community won the gallantry award, Sitara-i-Jurat, in the 1965 and 1971 wars along with many other lesser awards in recognition of their bravery on the battlefield. “In terms of numbers and keeping in view the population ratio, there are more Hazaras in Pakistan’s armed forces than any other ethnic group in Balochistan,” he added.

The Hazaras have also excelled in sports. In particular, they have done well in soccer, boxing, body-building and the martial arts. Air Marshal Sharbat Ali Changezi’s brother Shaukat Ali Changezi was a high class body-builder. Prior to him, another Hazara body-builder, Mohammad Ishaq Beg, was adjudged “Mr Pakistan” in the 1960s and was also able to compete and do well in the Asian championship. Qayyum Changezi, a popular footballer was the captain of Pakistan team for a number of years. There is a story how Qayyum Changezi as the full-back thwarted the Chinese players during a soccer match in China and some Chinese referred to him as Pakistan’s “Great Wall” in reference to the “Great Wall of China.”

The case of the late Safdar Ali Babal, also an ethnic Hazara, was unique as he played for both the national soccer and hockey teams. Boxer Ibrar Hussain Shah was well-known due to his prowess in the boxing ring but he was tragically gunned down in Quetta because he happened to be a Hazara.

Many other Hazaras have faced a similar fate. The killings have prompted the younger generation of Hazaras to migrate to the West and many have been risking their lives by attempting to reach countries liking Australia in ill-equipped boats.

 

 

 

“The first priority is security”
Sardar Saadat Ali Khan belongs to the Sardar family of the 
Hazara community
By Rahimullah Yusufzai

Being the head of the Hazara community, Sardar Saadat Ali Khan was in the news recently. He belongs to the Sardar family and is nephew of late Pakistan Army chief General Muhammad Musa.

Sardar Saadat’s father, Sardar Muhammad Isa Khan, was one of three sons of Sardar Yazdan Khan, who was a descendant of Sardar Sher Ali Khan, a Hazara elder from Joghori in Afghanistan. This is a family of Khans among the Hazaras and enjoys respect as the sardars of the tribe. Unlike the powerful landowning Baloch sardars, the Hazara sardars work in an honorary capacity.

The 62-year old Sardar Saadat was earlier in Canada, visiting his two sons and a daughter studying there. He was in the US when authorities in Pakistan requested him to immediately come to Quetta to help in defusing the situation in the wake of the devastating bomb explosions on the Alamdar Road and at Bacha Khan Chowk in which about one hundred people, mostly Hazaras, were killed. He rushed to Pakistan and played his role in resolving the issue.

The government finally accepted the demands of the protesting Hazaras who had put 83 bodies on the Alamdar Road in freezing temperature for four days and refused to perform burial until the government of Chief Minister Nawab Aslam Raisani was removed and governor’s rule was enforced.

Without revealing the “concerned” person who requested him to return to Pakistan to defuse the situation, Sardar Saadat said his people have been seeking protection against attacks by the militants but the provincial government remained unmoved. “We have lost more than 1,300 members of our community in recent years and many more have been wounded. Out businesses have been destroyed and we don’t have a peace of mind,” he explained.

Listing his complaints against former Chief Minister Raisani, he said he felt offended by his remarks in a meeting with a Hazara delegation last year. “Instead of offering to take practical steps to protect the Hazara people, the chief minister said he could send a truckload of tissue papers so that the aggrieved families could wipe off their tears. I was part of the delegation and was upset to hear such insulting remarks,” he recalled.

“We are peaceful people and have harmed nobody. The attacks have ruined our lives. Even our tears have dried up,” he remarked.

Sardar Saadat said the Hazaras were losing hope and their children were leaving the country. “I also sent my children abroad as we feared they would be killed. Gen Musa’s son Hasan Musa was target-killed in Karachi in 1998 and my brother Sardar Nisar Ali was injured when he survived an attack in 1999,” he pointed out.

Saying that people from different communities and walks of life congratulated him and other Hazaras for successfully campaigning for the removal of Chief Minister Raisani, he said the people have high hopes from Balochistan Governor Nawab Zulfiqar Magsi. “The governor is a sincere man and is aware of the insecurity felt by the Hazaras. We hope steps would be taken to protect us even though the governor’s rule is for two months. We don’t expect all the issues to be fully resolved but an effort needs to be made to improve security. For us the first priority is security,” Sardar Saadat argued.

Emphasizing the attachment that the Hazaras have for Pakistan, he said 200-250 members of the Hazara community are presently serving in officer ranks in the army and three of them are brigadiers. He said many others served in the past in the armed forces and have since retired or are dead. “And Saira Batool from our community was the first female Pakistan Air Force pilot,” he proudly added.

 

Regime change
Imposition of the governor’s rule in Balochistan generates a mixed response
By Alefia T. Hussain

Time was of essence last Sunday. As the night wore on, the PM, along with representatives of coalition and other parties, had little choice but to act – and concede to the demand of the peacefully demonstrating Hazara Shias.

So, in an extraordinary late-night decision on Jan 13, Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf dismissed the Aslam Raisani government and imposed the governor’s rule in Balochistan under Article 234 of the Constitution. It was only after this decision that the Hazaras, who had been protesting against the Jan 10 target killing in subzero temperature, agreed to end the sit-in on Quetta’s Alamdar Road — and bury 100 bodies of their people four days after they were massacred in three bomb attacks.

In effect, the elected government of Balochistan was sacked by the centre for the fifth time. This time Governor Nawab Zulfikar Magsi has been empowered to serve as the chief executive of the province; Islamabad to take all key decisions; and Frontier Corps (FC) granted policing powers.

The decision was welcomed by the thousands protesting in Quetta, and many thousands more across the country, from Karachi to Skardu, chanting slogans like, “Am I the next victim”.

The major political parties echoed the same sentiment. PML-Q, with 19 legislators in the Balochistan Assembly, agreed Raisani should step down and army be called out in the province. ANP, with 4 seats, nodded in agreement. And so did MQM.

However, two key coalition partners — Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA), with 9 seats, led by Maulana Fazlur Rehman, and Balochistan Nationalist Party-Awami (BNP-A), with 7 seats — opposed the government’s decision, calling it “unconstitutional”. They instead advised an in-house change in the government.

Two days after the imposition of the governor’s rule, in the assembly session called by Governor Magsi, the Balochistan Assembly unanimously adopted two resolutions which rejected the imposition of the governor’s rule in the province as undemocratic, and called for a judicial inquiry into the Jan 10 killing of Hazaras.

The Baloch and Pashtun nationalist parties (mainly the ones that boycotted the 2008 elections) view Raisani and Magsi as one and the same, and are cynical of FC’s role in the province. BNP-M chief and former chief minister of Balochistan, Akhter Mengal said although the provincial government was incompetent, yet the governor’s rule was no solution to Balochistan’s problems.

Surely, the governor’s rule has generated a mixed response. “Just because something is allowed in the constitution does not mean that it will always lead to good results. Invoking the governor’s rule is analogous to pulling on the emergency (hand) brake in a car,” says lawyer and columnist Waqqas Mir.

The reasons for the disagreement to the governor’s rule are rooted in the past experience of the Baloch, who have been disillusioned with Islamabad and see the governor as its agent, a viceroy. “It makes no sense to deprive the whole of Balochistan (at least 29 districts) of democratic representation only because sectarian issues exist in one district, that is Quetta,” says Malik Siraj Akbar, Editor Baloch Hal.

He adds, “Balochistan government can be blamed for corruption and incompetence but there is hardly any evidence of its support to the Lashkar-e-Jhangvi [the group that claims the responsibility of the Quetta carnage]. The Lashkar is believed to enjoy covet support from intelligence agencies. Until the security establishment abandons its support to these extremist groups and improves the police and intelligence apparatus, the dismissal of the provincial government and imposition of emergency is hardly going to improve the conditions”.

Being critical of the Balochistan government, Akbar says, it did not realise the Hazara protests would lead to the enforcement of the governor’s rule for two reasons: One, the government had recently overcome a crisis in the wake of speaker Mohammad Aslam Bhootani’s revolt against the CM; secondly, the Hazaras had been protesting in the past. “They had, in response to similar attacks in the past, protested in front of the Governor House, CM House, Balochistan High Court and the Balochistan Assembly. What made a difference this time was the unprecedented expression of condemnation and solidarity across Pakistan.”

He stresses that never in the past were such widespread and massive protests held in Pakistan in response to something that happened in Balochistan.

Reservations are widely held against granting of policing power to the FC. “Ninety five per cent FC personnel come from Fata and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, the rest of the five per cent comprise of top military officers Punjab. It is absolutely devoid of local representation, ignorant of knowledge of local language and geography,” he asserts.

Based on these disadvantages, the FC, whenever called in the past in Quetta to assist the police, have failed to deliver. Instead, he says, “FC’s lack of policing experiences added new problems and animosity with the local communities”.

Considering we are so close to the elections, one wonders how the rule would bode for Balochistan. “The governor’s rule has not been tested by the courts after the passing of the 20th Constitutional Amendment,” says legal expert Salman Akram Raja.

“Some form of government will have to be put in place by the present assembly. It’ll have to elect a new CM because an only outgoing CM can appoint a caretaker setup according to the amendments in the constitution,” he adds.

And, “One can only hope that the caretaker set up will not reflect Islamabad’s viceroy but will feature Baloch leaders who inspire the confidence of their own people,” hopes Waqqas Mir.

 

 

 

Editorial

The sectarian killings are not new to Balochistan or Quetta; both have been a major flashpoint in terms of sectarian violence since the 1990s. The killing of Hazara Shia in particular has a racial dimension too because this community, with its distinctive features, is 100 per cent Shia. This fact alone has come to harm them, and whereas other Shias elsewhere are sometimes killed in isolated cases of target killing, the Hazara have always been killed in hordes.

These have all been unprovoked attacks on a peaceful community, merely on account of its religious beliefs. The attackers are the sectarian outfits that roam freely in this country. There has been a consistent lack of justice for the perpetrators of this sectarian violence; they are either not apprehended and if they are they manage to get acquittals.

The attacks, therefore, continue unabated while the state half-heartedly deals with them on a case to case basis and with no long term strategy in place.

This time, on January 10, after another mass murder of the Hazara took place in Quetta where most of them are concentrated, the people of this community decided to not take it lying down; they decided to sit in front of the governor’s house to protest against the total impunity and lack of justice along with their 86 coffins. They did this for almost three days and nights, with women and children, and not just in Quetta but in all major cities, and mostly in freezing cold weather.

This way, the community forced the people as well as the government to take notice of their disillusionment with the present setup by their sheer resilience. They wanted justice, which for them translated into giving the control of the city in the hands of the army.

This is what the political activists have objected to and rightly so but, as someone rightly said, victims think differently from activists. The government responded by imposing a governor’s rule. This perhaps was the only solution possible under the circumstances but this is where the Hazaras’ cause got alienated. Any recourse to the army does not cut ice with the Baloch nationalists or insurgents who have had enough of interventions by the centre as well as of rule by the army, in any shape. The Hazaras couldn’t be bothered less; they are dying and forced to migrate for fear of death.

The problems of Balochistan are multiple and the government must find a solution to all of them. For this, it may have to bring the military on board. The status quo, both in terms of lack of control over the sectarian violence as well as regarding the insurgency, cannot hold. Only a truly representative and empowered government can find such solutions.

 

 

 

 

  target
Who is killing them?
While different terrorist outfits get their acts together against Shias in Balochistan, the state remains disturbingly inactive
By Muhammad Amir Rana

Sectarian target killings of members of Hazara community have become a regular feature of Balochistan’s security landscape. Anti-Shia sectarian outfits have a significant presence in Balochistan. These outfits are pursuing their agendas with relative freedom compared to the nationalist insurgents and the Afghan Taliban.

In Balochistan, the number of sectarian attacks and clashes increased by 195 per cent in 2012, compared to 2011, and the number of fatalities and the injured in these attacks by around 62 percent and 239 per cent, respectively.

Though anti-Shia terrorist groups were responsible for most of the attacks, but a weak retaliation as well. Banned Sipah-e-Muhammad Pakistan (SMP) is getting active in Quetta but the level of their operations is small and it is considered a non-Hazara group. The orientation of organisations of the Hazaras, such as Hazara Democratic Party or Hazara Students Federations, is ethno-political rather than religious.

Anti-Shia groups are more organised and have nexus with other terrorist groups, including Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and Al-Qaeda. Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LeJ) is more lethal among them.

LeJ operates in and around Quetta. Two splinter groups of the LeJ known as Usman Kurd group and Shafiq Rind group are active in Balochistan. The LeJ concentrated in Balochistan and other parts of Pakistan after its terrorist camps in Kabul and Kandahar were destroyed when the US forces invaded Afghanistan in 2001.

The SSP, the parent organisation of the LeJ, remains a silent supporter of the latter. The SSP has a big support base in Balochistan. The SSP has been banned twice by the government but in Balochistan it remains intact and provides ground support for LeJ terrorists.

Asif Chotu, once a close aide of Lashkar-i-Jhangvi founder Riaz Basra, is reorganising the group. He has approached other factions as well and now most of the splinter groups of LeJ have come under one umbrella because of his efforts. The LJ nexus with Al Qaeda and TTP has not only broadened its ideological horizon but also equipped it with lethal operational tactics.

According to a media report, the pro-Pakistan Baloch groups, which are involved in the target killing of anti-state elements have developed nexus with LeJ in Balochistan.

Jundullah is another active militant actor in Balochistan, blending the religious sectarian agenda with a nationalist separatist ideology. It is an anti-Shia and anti-Iran militant outfit which operates in the Iranian province of Seistan-Balochistan, bordering Pakistani districts of Chagi, Kharan, Panjgur, Kech and Gwadar. The number of Jundullah activists is estimated to be around 800.

The group is also aligning itself with anti-Shia outfits in Balochistan, such as Lashkar-e-Jhangvi and Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistan, to target the Shia Hazara community.

TTP also claimed responsibility for many attacks targeting members of the Shia community in Balochistan. Although the nexus between the militant sectarian Sunni groups and the TTP was already well- established, it was for the first time that in 2012 the TTP claimed responsibility for several attacks on the Shia community in different parts of Pakistan. Pakistani Taliban surfaced in Balochistan in 2009. However, they disassociate themselves from TTP.

Among all militant groups, LeJ has undoubtedly become the most lethal terrorist group that is targeting Hazaras in Balochistan. As different factions of the LeJ are coming together, their operational capabilities will increase ultimately. The group has sectarian reasons to target the Hazara community.

The current trends of the attacks suggest that Quetta has become regular a hotspot of sectarian violence where state needs to craft a proper strategy to counter violent actors.

 

 

 

“Our only demand is that the state should establish its writ in Balochistan”
— Abdul Khaliq Hazara, Chairman Hazara Democratic Party

By Aoun Sahi

The News on Sunday: Do you think imposition of the governor’s rule in Balochistan would help the cause of Hazaras?

Abdul Khaliq Hazara: In fact, imposition of the governor’s rule was not a demand of the Hazara Democratic Party (HDP). We are not in favour of army control in Quetta.

However, after the killing of 100 people on Jan 10, our ulema and elders demanded the governor’s rule. The main purpose of this demand was to get rid of the Raisani government in Balochistan. We want a targeted operation to be launched in Quetta under army because we do not trust police and FC.

Quetta is a small city. If the army is serious it can locate and arrest the terrorists in Quetta within a week. Our main demand is that the government should establish its writ in Balochistan.

TNS: Your views on the targeted killings of the Hazara community…

AKH: We do not see targeted killings in their current context, where a particular mindset, with support from provincial government and the elements of state security agencies, kills Hazaras. The targeted killing is also a product of failed policies of the state as successive governments were reckless in the last three decades in the region. Pakistan’s role in the Afghan jihad in the 1980s, when the state promoted ‘jihad’ in the country and sponsored terrorist groups, resulted in numerous problems. It gave rise to the Kalashnikov and drug culture in Pakistan. Quetta became the hub of these activities in the last three decades because of its geographic position. Today, we are reaping the results of those policies.

The Hazara community in Quetta is concentrated on its western and eastern sides. We need to travel thorough the city to go from one side to the other. The first incident of targeted killing happened in 2001 when terrorists attacked a van, killing 10 Hazara passengers. Again, 12 Hazara police cadets were gunned down when terrorists attacked their vehicle in June 2003. The first suicide attack against the Hazara community occurred in July 2004 when terrorists attacked a Friday congregation at Imambargah Kalan. In 2008-09, attacks against our people increased and then from 2011 onwards our people started getting targeted inside the city. Doctors, professors, students, businessmen and sportsmen have been targeted and killed. The motive behind these terror acts is simple — push Quetta into a hell of sectarian violence as all Hazaras in Quetta belong to the Shia sect. So far, more than 1000 Hazaras have been killed in Balochistan in the last one decade.

In September 2011, the buses in Mastung near the ancestral village of ex-CM Balochistan, Aslam Raisani, were stopped and after checking their ID cards, 26 of them were killed on the spot. In April 2012, more than 30 Hazara people were targeted in 10 days. In 2012, more than 120 Hazara people were killed while in the first 10 days of 2013 more than 100 Hazaras have been killed. Everybody knows the killers as they do not hesitate to claim responsibility. After the last incident, in which more than 100 people of our community were killed, LeJ phoned journalists in Quetta and openly claimed responsibility. They said they had asked Hazaras to leave Quetta by the end of 2012 or they would be wiped out.

TNS: But why are Hazaras under attack?

AKH: Hazara community in Balochistan overwhelmingly belongs to the Shia sect and they are also easily recognisable because of their features. It is true that after the Iranian revolution some elements among Hazaras and other Shia communities in Pakistan were enthusiastic about spreading their message. They tried to convert people from other sects. The ‘Saudi Arabia element’ resisted this move strongly and pumped in billions of rupees to strengthen anti-Shia forces in Balochistan. The first wave of sectarian tension in Balochistan started in the mid-1980s while the second started after 9/11. It was time when anti-Shia forces had become so strong that they could operate at their will.

We strongly condemn Saudi Arabia and Iran’s proxy war in Pakistan. It was the duty of our state to stop this war but, unfortunately, strong elements of state have become part of that war. Extremism, sectarianism, and terrorism are being promoted in Balochistan with the help of elements in our state institutions. On January 11, the LeJ once again threatened they would either kill or get killed to wipe out Hazaras from Quetta. The LeJ, in fact, wants to provoke us, so we start attacking our innocent Sunni Pushtun and Baloch brothers in Quetta.

TNS: How difficult is it for you to keep the Hazara youth peaceful? AKH: Hazaras are peaceful people. It is true that after 2004 attack on a Shia procession, Shias also turned violent and burnt some shops. But there are other Shias than Hazaras in Quetta. We have Shias from different ethnicities from Punjabi, Urdu speaking, Pashtun, Balti, etc. We always tell our people that the LeJ and its supporters want to push us in a situation which leads to civil war in society. We still believe in peaceful protests.

After the January 10 incident, we had two sit-ins in Quetta — one at Alamdar Road while I, alongwith my party activists, demonstrated in the red zone, in front of the IG office. But not a single incident of violence occurred from our side. Most of our youth have been deprived of education; some of them have also started joining religious elements. People have lost their businesses and jobs. They cannot move freely in their own city. More than 30,000 Hazaras have already migrated out of the country. Parents have been forcing their sons to leave the country. Our PhDs have been working as labourers in Australia and other countries. Still, an overwhelming majority of our community believes in peace. We still want to solve our problem peacefully.

TNS: You talked about involvement of some state elements. Do you have proof?

AKH: So far, more than 1000 Hazaras have been killed in Balochistan but not a single killer is in police custody. It arrested the masterminds of these attacks in the past, including the LeJ head of Balochistan, Saif Usman, and his deputy, Dawood Badini. Both were awarded death punishment from a terrorist court in 2003. They escaped from jail situated in the high security zone in Cantonment, Quetta. Even when they were in jail, they were treated like special guests and allowed to carry on their activities from jail. The performance of the Interior and Home Secretaries, IGP Balochistan and heads of other law enforcement agencies are abysmal as they have failed to provide protection to the people. People have lost confidence in police and other law enforcement agencies as terrorists always succeed in evading arrests. In several incidents of targeted killings of Hazara community, motorbikes of local police were used while many of the attackers were in FC uniforms. They attacked people close to FC checkposts but were never apprehended. I strongly believe that some elements in our security agencies help terrorists to identify the targets and then also support them reach their targets with ease.

TNS: What is the solution?

AKH: Our rulers and state departments need to take the situation seriously. They need to establish their writ. They need to give confidence to people — that the state cares about them. At one point our main demand was that our cases be pursued. I appeal to all the democratic, liberal, political and progressive forces to come ahead and perform their responsibility for protecting the society from falling into the brutal hands of extremists in the country.

 

 

Excerpts from Report of an HRCP’s fact finding mission, “Hopes, fears and alienation in Balochistan,” 
May 15-19, 2012

 
Vulnerable communities

The HRCP mission held detailed discussions with representatives of sectarian and religious minority communities and sought their guidance in understanding if any trend in the context had been positive. The persecution of the Hazara community dominated the discussion and even members of non-Muslim communities sympathised with them.

What the Hazaras had been facing since 1999 was unique even in Pakistan. Few other communities had been targeted so ruthlessly on account of their religious beliefs. The killings appeared to be an attempt to cause bloody clashes between Shias and Sunnis. The Hazaras had not allowed that to happen almost 99 percent of the time. The community elders had pacified the youth and kept them away from violence. But they feared the day when overwhelmed by burying one Hazara after the other they could no longer be controlled. Once that happened “the aim of the enemies of Pakistan would be met”.

Hazaras had been uprooted from Loralai, Machh and Zhob, and over 800 had been killed since 1999. In the democratic regime, from February 2008 until May 2012, at least 550 Hazaras had been killed. That was devastating considering that Hazaras were a population of around half a million. Thousands had been injured and around half of them rendered disabled for life. In December 2010, in an attack on a Hazara rally on Yaum al-Quds more than 100 people were killed and over 250 injured. 300

Hazara students at Balochistan University had stopped taking classes due to fear.

Around half a dozen people had been arrested and some convicted by anti-terrorism courts for target killing of Hazaras. One of the convicts said in front of a judge that he had killed Hazaras and that he would kill more if he ever got the chance. The convicts were living a life of comfort in jails, getting VIP treatment, and had televisions and cell phones. There had been incidents where the convicts had led prayers and policemen had offered prayers behind them.

In 2006, two target killers Usman Saifullah and Shafiq Rind escaped from Anti- Terrorism Force (ATF) prison in Quetta and not a lock, door or window was broken. The Hazaras had highlighted the incident as best they could but no inquiry was held. There were black sheep in the ranks of police and FC. No improvement was expected until they were weeded out.

Last year a bus full of pilgrims left Quetta for Iran. After crossing seven security check- posts and 200 metres short of another check-post, the bus was stopped in Mastung by armed men. Twenty-four Hazara men and boys were lined up and executed. It took five minutes to kill them all. Women and children were made to watch. This does not happen even in Rwanda. We have met everyone, from police station house officers (SHOs) to the president and the prime minister and everyone in between. The meetings have lasted for hours. They sympathise with us, promise to help but nothing changes. The political parties just join us for fateha and leave. The people have been forced to conclude that the state is getting them killed. What else can you conclude if people are killed in front of check-posts? We have committed no crime. We are not against Pakistan and demand only the rights that all human beings deserve. – A Hazara community leader

Practical measures needed to end the killings and impunity. The killings had started in Gen Zia’s regime (1977-1988). There was none of that before then. The book identified the elements that killed Hazaras. Saudi money and training and promotion of sectarianism in madrassas were mentioned.

The aim had been to confine the Hazaras, who had retreated into small pockets. That had already happened. They could not move along Saryab Road in Quetta.

The massacres of pilgrims going to Iran could be seen on Youtube. The route to Iran needed to be secured for pilgrims. Political and religious organisations generally condemned attacks on Shia pilgrims and non-Muslims had also join protest rallies.

The constitution guaranteed the rights to life and religious freedom. If both these rights were absent then the state had failed in its constitutional responsibility.

The religious and sectarian minorities called upon the government, and political and religious parties to formulate a charter to safeguard them.

Pamphlets  were being  distributed  that  killing  Hazaras,  Barelvis, Hindus  and Christians was justified. Lashkar-e-Jhangvi was there because someone protected it. Those who pasted posters on the walls and distributed pamphlets were there because someone protected them. If the Hazaras pasted posters against Lashkar-e- Jhangvi on the walls everyone will see the consequences for the Hazaras.

Shias live in Saudi Arabia, in India and other countries. It is only in Pakistan that Shias are safe neither in the mosque nor in markets. It is only here that they preach killing Shia Muslims in the name of Allah, burying them without a funeral, without bathing the body and without a kafan (shroud covering the dead body). – A Shia cleric

Over 100 Hindus had been abducted in Balochistan. The majority had been released after ransom was paid. Those who did not pay ransom were killed and their bodies dumped. A 22-year-old Hindu man was killed because his parents could not pay ransom. No one from the government had come to the victims. Hindus could not get out of their houses. Their education had been suspended. There had also been incidents of conversion, although none of them was recent. In small cities Hindus were forced to pay bhatta (extortion money).

About a fifth of the Hindu population had migrated from Balochistan. The rest could not leave because they were poor. The Hindus could not just leave whatever they had in Pakistan and go away. Who wanted to leave his motherland? The Hindus were being pushed out. They looked at Hazaras and thought that the pain and suffering of Hazaras was far greater than their own.