A bomb blast in Quetta’s Hazarganji market recently killed 20 people and left another 48 people injured. The martyrs included nine Hazara people, apparently the intended target of the terrorists, one Frontier Corps official and 10 other citizens. For more than a decade now, the Hazara people have been the target of a ruthless campaign of violence.
A National Commission for Human Rights report says more than 500 Hazara people have been killed in the murderous attacks. Bostan Ali Kishmand, a regional head of Hazara Democratic Party, calls this a gross understatement. He says more than 1,000 people have been killed. “More than 200 Hazaras were killed in only two suicide attacks,” he recalls. Independent reports suggest that besides killing the large number of people, suicide attacks, targeted killings and bomb blasts have forced Hazaras to forgo a number of business and employment opportunities and make compromises on the education of their children.
The community’s origin can be traced to the Hazarajat region of central Afghanistan. Like other Afghan diasporas, Hazaras are to be found all over the world. In Balochistan, they are mostly settled in Quetta and its suburbs. There are more than half a million Hazara people in Pakistan currently.
There are eight Hazara clans in Pakistan; four of them Sunni and four Shia. Those carrying out the violence against them have shown no signs of discriminating among them.
Several motives have been assigned to the terrorists. Some economists say their business success and dominance of certain markets has made their lesser rivals their mortal enemies. Some politicians relate the genocide to a foreign hand. Others blame it on Baloch insurgents. Sectarian extremism, however, is believed by most people to be a factor in the killings.
Several motives have been assigned to the terrorists. Some economists say Hazaras’ business success and dominance of certain markets has made their lesser rivals their mortal enemies. Some politicians relate the genocide to a foreign hand. Others blame it on Baloch insurgents. Sectarian extremism is believed by most people to be a factor in the killings
Coming at the heels of the terrorist assault in Christ Church, the Hazarganji attack allowed many people to ask why state and government leaders could not take the kind of measures to protect the Hazara people the government of New Zealand has announced. The mainstream media has already moved on to limited overs cricket, parliamentary affairs, civil-military relations and a perceived executive-judiciary row.
It’s not as if the community has done nothing to get government’s attention. They have resorted to street demonstrations, hunger strikes and sit-ins but failed to get the government to do enough to stop the attacks. Government leaders and state officials have been issuing statements in this regard. Prime Minister Imran Khan, too, has condemned the attack and called for an immediate inquiry. He has also promised to boost the security arrangements. This, however, sounds too much like the past. His predecessors, too, had regularly condemned violence and promised security.
The Hazara community is unique in some ways. It thus adds to the rich diversity of Pakistani people. The language spoken by most Hazaras is a Hazarangi dialect of Dari, but Pashto, Balochi and Turkic are also spoken as second language. Hazaras have a higher literacy rate than their neighbours. They are also recognized for their arts and crafts. Most Hazara children, boys as well as girls, receive informal as well as formal education. A number of Hazara youths are studying at universities in Australia, Europe and North America.
The state needs to improve the way it treats the citizens before it’s too late. For now there appears to be no end to the agony of Hazara people. Besides issuing condemnations, the government should take practical steps to provide relief to Hazara people. They should be compensated adequately to mitigate their sufferings.
The writer is an Islamabad-based lawyer