Quetta Shia Massacre: Deafening Silence pierced with the sounds of protests by the civil society

16 January 2013

The Quetta Hazara carnage has killed 92 people and wounded 121. This is a second atrocity in a week when earlier last week a bus was blown up in Mastung, killing 19 killed and wounding 25. So insensitive are the Pakistani authorities that for the first two days of the massacre  Baluchistan, the provincial authorities did not even issue  a statement on the Thursday’s massacre,  let alone take action. The Pakistani political parties issued hollow  customary statements of condemnation and have done nothing more.

The voice of conscience in Pakistan has been muted for decades while thousands of Shias have been systematically killed. Now, the deafening silence has been pierced with the sounds of protests by the civil society in Pakistan as well as outside. The consciences were finally jolted into action by the relatives of those innocent victims, who have refused to bury their dead until the government hands over security of Quetta to the army and dismisses the Provincial Government.  The shocked Hazara community’s vigil beside the shrouded victims, in sub zero temperatures,  has finally resulted in protests and  sit-ins in all major cities and towns of Pakistan in solidarity with the mourners and their demand for basic human rights. The Pakistan Bar Council has severely criticized the authorities for their failure to address the demands of the victims’  families of Quetta blasts and  appealed to their  members and bar associations all over the country to observe “Mourning Day” against the Quetta carnage on Monday. 

All people of conscience cannot but call upon the Government of Pakistan not to drag their feet and offer protection to the persecuted Shias of Pakistan and address their grievances. The World Federation joins the international Community in echoing the call of the  Hazara Community that  they cannot, will not and must not accept anything less than full restoration of law and order and bring the perpetrators to  justice. While the action by Pakistan Premier Raja Pervez Ashraf to fire the Baluchistan government and impose Governor’s Rule is the first step , it is not enough.  The Governor must immediately find and arrest the perpetrators of these heinous crimes and ensure that justice is done and the culprits are given exemplary punishment.

Mustafa Khokhar, the human rights minister said “The government has miserably failed to protect the rights of its citizens”.  We concur and call upon the Govt of Pakistan not to shirk its responsibility to its citizens and to take all necessary measures to address the root-cause of the brutal aggression and arrest these murderers who belong to Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, their patrons Sipah-e-Sahaba and other terrorist groups. It is also time that the Pakistani authorities take up a strong stand against external influences from where such groups receive the bulk of their funding. 

Amidst the protests and the carnage, what is often overlooked is the human element and the impact on the families. Below  are the painful words of a Hazara young woman, (published in the Dec 31, 2012 edition of the International Herald Tribune)  who lives in Quetta:

“I must share what it means to be a Shia Hazara. Today, I am going to share a bit of my story – the story of me and my people. When one of us comes in front of you, you mostly label us Chinese or Korean. Our complexions are not like yours, neither is our race or genetic composition. We are the ‘others’. And our pain is that of the others. We are Pakistanis but not considered a part of you. Very few will raise their voice for us, even when 27 of us are taken off a bus and are shot and killed just because we are Shias. Just because we have Mongol-like features.Just because we migrated here from Afghanistan.But what is the reality? How many of you can relate to 5 dead bodies being taken out of a house – father, brothers, sons. What do the women of that house go through? What is the future of these women? Of the Shia Hazara women? When they step outside the four walls of their homes once the men have been slaughtered, to earn a living because they have no other choice, vultures start circling. These are men who have been directly or indirectly responsible for lifting the roof off their heads. Responsible for killing the men in their lives. They offer help to these women in exchange for not cash but kind. I am one of those women.”

The World Federation of KSIMC Media Committee

For further information contact:
 
The World Federation of KSIMC, Islamic Centre, Wood Lane, Stanmore, Middlesex, HA7 4LQ, United Kingdom
Tel: +44(0) 20 8954 9881
Fax: +44(0)20 8954 9034
secretariat@world-federation.org

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