QUETTA: A shopkeeper from Hazara community was shot dead by identified armed men early Wednesday morning.
Gunmen riding on a motorcycle opened fire at an auto parts shop, killing Asif on the spot, Quetta Deputy Inspector General (DIG) Abdur Razzaq Cheema said. It appears to have been a targeted killing, he added.
The body of the deceased was shifted to the Civil Hospital.
City Police Station SHO Malik Murad told reporters that the attackers fled after firing bullets at the victim.
It was the fourth attack in recent months targeting Hazaras. No one has claimed the attacks so far.
On April 1, an unidentified man had shot dead a taxi driver from the Hazara community in a crowded market of the city. After the incident, taxi drivers had staged a sit-in protest for one week against failure of the provincial government in providing safety to the Hazara community.
Sectarian terrorism in Balochistan has disproportionately targeted people from the Hazara community. 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 19th 2018.