HRW pushes Pakistan to protect Shias

Pakistan

HRW pushes Pakistan to protect Shias

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Deadly attacks on Shia communities across Pakistan are escalating, an official said.

06 September,2012 03:04 pm

Pakistan should urgently act to protect Shia community from rising sectarian attacks that have killed hundreds this year, Human Rights Watch said Thursday.At least 320 Shias have been killed in targeted attacks this year across Pakistan, including more than 100 in southwestern Balochistan province, the majority from the Hazara community, the US-based group it said in a statement.Deadly attacks on Shia (Shiite) communities across Pakistan are escalating, Brad Adams, Asia director at Human Rights Watch, said in the same statement.The governments persistent failure to apprehend attackers or prosecute the extremist groups organising the attacks suggests that it is indifferent to this carnage, Adams said.The rights watchdog said that militant groups such as the ostensibly banned Lashkar-e Jhangvi (LeJ) had operated with widespread impunity across Pakistan while law enforcement officials looked the other way.Adams said the arrest last month of of LeJ leader Malik Ishaq, who has been accused of killing some 70 people, was an important test for Pakistans criminal justice system.On September 1, four gunmen riding two motorbikes intercepted a bus near the Hazarganji area of Quetta, the capital of Balochistan, pulled five Shia vegetable sellers off the vehicle and shot them dead.On August 30, unidentified gunmen shot dead judge Zulfiqar Naqvi along with his driver and police bodyguard.Sectarian conflict has left thousands of people dead since the late 1980s.In one of the bloodiest recent attacks, on August 16 gunmen dragged 20 travellers off a bus and killed them at point blank range in northern Pakistan.Pakistans government cannot play the role of unconcerned bystander as the Shia across Pakistan are slaughtered, Adams said.