Islamabad under growing pressure over violence against Shia Muslims

The Pakistani government is facing growing anger and pressure to take serious actions over the persisting issue of Shia killings in the southwestern province of Balochistan.

The Hazara Democratic Party in the city of Quetta has held the government accountable for the killing of Shia Muslims due to its failure to quell extremist groups.

“We are giving the government 48 hours to arrest the culprits involved in the killing of our people and after that we will launch strong protests,” Aziz Hazara, the vice-president of the Hazara Democratic Party, said on Sunday.

On Saturday, a deadly bomb attack in a crowded market in the town of Hazara near the southwestern city of Quetta killed at least 84 people and injured almost 200 others.

Tens of thousands of Pakistani protesters marched nationwide in protest at the attack, the second major targeting of Quetta’s Hazara community in five weeks.

The protesters said the Pakistani government had failed to take proper action to prevent the terror attacks on the Shia Muslim community.

Meanwhile, the mourning relatives of the victims have refused to bury the bodies of their loved ones unless the government takes concrete actions and finds the perpetrators of the slaughter.

On January 10, nearly 130 people were killed and many others injured in a wave of deadly bomb attacks targeting both Pakistani security guards and civilians in Quetta.

Shias make up about 20 percent of Pakistan’s population of over 180 million.

Since the beginning of 2012, hundreds of Shias have been killed in Pakistan. The attacks have targeted many doctors, engineers, high-ranking government officials, teachers, and politicians, but also ordinary citizens.