The hunger strike of Quetta’s Hazara community continues on the third day in protest against unabated killings of community members in targeted attacks and state institutions failure to bring culprits to justice.
Political activist Jalila Haider is leading the hunger strike camp in front of the Quetta Press Club.
The protesters criticised the law enforcement and security agencies for their inaction and failure to prevent Hazaras from being murdered in the city. They said that their protest would continue until Army Chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa came on his own to assure the widows of the deceased men that action would be taken against the perpetrators.
On Sunday, a protest rally was held under the banner of Balochistan Shia Conference at Shuhada Chowk, Alamdar Road. Members of the Hazara Democratic Party, Balochistan National Party, and Jamhuri Watan Party were also present.
“We do not want roti, kapra and makaan; all we want is the right to life,” former PPP lawmaker Nasir Shah said.
Other speakers said that over 2,000 Hazaras had been killed while 3,000 had been injured in targeted attacks.
Zair Agha, another speaker at the rally, said, “Our neighbourhoods have been turned into orphanages. Our blood has become cheaper than water.”
The recent wave of protests started after two Hazara men were shot and killed in the fourth targeted attack against the community this month.
Two members of the community were killed, and another injured in an attack in the Western Bypass area of the city last Sunday. A shopkeeper was gunned down on April 18, while another Hazara man was killed in the beginning of the month. A report by the National Commission of Human Rights (NCHR) released last month claimed that 509 Hazaras were killed in various incidents of terrorism in Quetta in the last five years.
Published in Daily Times, April 30th 2018.
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