Pakistani Shiite Muslims demonstrate against recent bombings in Quetta.(AFP Photo / Banaras Khan)
Pakistani ministers are trying to calm a thousand-strong protest in the city of Quetta, where grieving relatives of the victims of anti-Shiite bombings are refusing to bury their loved ones until they can feel safe from terrorists.
Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf heads the cabinet delegation that flew to the capital of the southwestern province of Balochistan on Sunday. The visit comes after thousands of protesters who are holding vigils at the site of the deadliest of Thursday bombing refused to talk with a delegation led by the minister for religious affairs, who arrived Saturday.
The protesters come from the community of the Hazara people and other Shiites, who were the prime target of the bombings at a local billiard hall. They are taking part in a sit-in beside the shrouded bodies of 96 people, who were killed by the terrorist attack.
Muslim tradition requires that a funeral takes place as quickly after the death as possible. Protesters’ willingness to go against it and keep their perished family and friends unburied for more than two days after their deaths shows the degree of their anxiety.
Pakistani Shiite Muslims demonstrate as they sit between the coffins of bombing victims in Quetta.(AFP Photo / Banaras Khan)
The leaders of the community demand that the provincial government be dismissed and that the army be deployed in Quetta to guarantee their safety. They also want the people behind the bombings to be brought to justice.
As the protest continues, a new bombing attack in the city killed a six-year-old boy, when an explosive device went off on Saturday night outside of an internet café.
Pakistani Shiite Muslims shout slogans against the twin bombings attack in Quetta, at a rally in Karachi.(AFP Photo / Asif Hassan)
The militant Sunni group Lashkar-e-Jhangvi claimed responsibility for the twin blasts at the billiard hall, which killed patrons and later those who rushed for rescue after the first explosion was set off. A total of 125 people died in those blasts and two others that happened in Quetta on Thursday.
Pakistani Shiite Muslims offer prayers as they gather against the bomb attack in Quetta, at a rally in Lahore.(AFP Photo / Arif Ali)
The Hazara are an ethnic group including more than 5 million people, mostly living in neighboring Afghanistan. But over the decades of persecution many of them moved to other places, with major communities living in Iran, Pakistan and Europe.
They have been living in Pakistan since the 19th century, with most settling in Quetta. Hazara are the largest group of Shiites living in the predominantly Sunni province and many of the victims of sectarian violence there targeting Shiites are Hazara.
Lashkar-e-Jhangvi is determined to expel Hazara along with other Shiites from Pakistan.
Pakistani Shiite Muslims gather against the twin bombings attack in Quetta, at a rally in Lahore.(AFP Photo / Arif Ali)
Pakistani Shiite Muslims demonstrate and sit between the coffins of bomb blast victims in Quetta.(AFP Photo / Banaras Khan)
Journalists from the Balochistan Union Of Journalists hold a photograph of their colleague Imran Sheikh, who was killed in an explosion the day before, during a silent sit-in to protest against bomb blasts and condemn the killings of members of the media, outside the press club in Quetta.(Reuters / Naseer Ahmed)
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Supporters of the Imamia Students Organisation (ISO) and the Majlis-e-Wahdat-e-Muslimeen (MWM) religious group attend a protest against the bomb blasts in Quetta a day earlier, in Lahore.(Reuters / Mani Rana)
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http://news.yahoo.com/pakistan-shiites-watch-over-96-bomb-dead-second-180708640.html
QUETTA, Pakistan (Reuters) - Talks between Pakistani officials and Shi'ite leaders on Saturday failed to quell a protest that brought thousands onto cold, wet streets for a second night to watch over the bodies of 96 people killed in one of Pakistan's worst sectarian attacks.
Leaders of the Shi'ite Hazaras, the ethnic group that was the target of Friday's twin bombings in the provincial capital Quetta, were vowing not to bury their dead until authorities promised to protect them from a wave of sectarian attacks.
Around 2,000 people spent Friday night keeping vigil at the site of the bombings - claimed by the Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LeJ) Sunni militant group - spreading plastic sheets over the shrouded bodies to keep the rain off them.
By Saturday, the number had swelled to around 5,000.
Muslim tradition requires that bodies are buried as soon as possible and leaving them above ground is a powerful expression of grief and pain.
A government delegation led by Federal Minister for Religious Affairs Syed Khurshid Shah met Shi'ite leaders late on Saturday after they complained about what they believe is the indifference of most Pakistani politicians to their plight.
Qayyum Changazi, chairman of the Yakjehti Council, a national alliance of predominantly Shi'ite organizations, said the talks had produced no result and the protest would continue until the army took over Quetta and the Balochistan provincial government was dismissed.
The Balochistan chief minister was in Dubai and unavailable for comment.
FIRES AGAINST THE COLD
As the sky darkened, protesters wrapped up in heavy coats and shawls and burned small coal fires to keep warm. Many held candles and some wept next to the coffins of their relatives.
Small protests were also held in the cities of Lahore, Karachi and the capital, Islamabad, where around 200 protesters held candles and placards demanding an end to attacks on Shi'ites, who make up 20 percent of Pakistan's population.
Parliamentarian Bushra Gohar from the Awami National Party (ANP) was the only prominent politician attending the protest in the capital.
She said there were several reasons why officials had been slow to respond: support for militants, fear or indifference.
"It could be pure callousness," she said. "Many political parties also support these groups. They are proxies."
Security policy in Pakistan is dominated by the army, which denies accusations that it retains ties to militant groups, in part to counter the influence of India.
The ruling Pakistan People's Party (PPP), which has seen some of its own senior politicians gunned down, has often been unwilling to speak out against militants for fear of being targeted.
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http://dawn.com/2013/01/12/talks-fail-between-govt-hazara-shia-protestors/
QUETTA: Negotiations aimed at convincing members of the Hazara Shia community to call off their protest ended inconclusively on Saturday after efforts by Governor Balochistan Nawab Zulfiqar Magsi and Federal Minister Syed Khursheed Shah.
Thousands of protesters have been braving chilly weather in Quetta to protest over killings of Hazara Shias in twin suicide attacks on Alamdar road area of the city. In sub- zero temperature, women and children spent Friday night to mourn the killings on the road, refusing to bury the bodies of the victims until the army takes control of the provincial capital.
The senior leaders of Pakistan’s federal and Balochistan government reached Quetta’s Alamdar Road on Saturday for negotiations with Shia leaders after almost 25 hours of a continuing sit-in by thousands of Hazara Shia community members.
Speaking to reporters after the talks, Khursheed Shah said that an important meeting has been convened in Karachi to discuss law and order situation in Balochistan on Sunday.
Shah further said that he has sought one day to meet the demands of protesters.
“We will continue our sit in until Quetta is handed over to Army,” Syed Dawood Agha, the Chief of Balochistan Shia Conference had earlier said. Agha said that the provincial government and police had completely failed to provide protection to them.
The mourners have brought 86 bodies of victims of Alamdar road blast and blocked the road connecting main government offices with Quetta city. Women and children are also part of the protest.
“We have requested them to bury the dead bodies but they are not listening,” Capital City Police Officer Quetta Zubair Mehmood said. He said the government had given an assurance to the family and friends of victims that the perpetraters would be brought to book.
The leaders of the newly formed Milli Yakjehti Council have refused to bury the dead bodies despite repeated requests made by Governor Balochistan Nawab Zulfiqar Magsi and the two federal ministers.
Markets and shops centers in the Hazara Shia dominated areas of Quetta are still closed.
On the directives of Chairman PPP Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, PPP Balochistan President Mir Sadiq Umrani also visited Alamdar road earlier and condemned the bombing. He tried to cajole the protesters to give up the protest but failed to convince the angry protesters.
Strict security measures have been taken by Balochistan Government to ensure security of protesters. Apart from police and Balochistan Constabulary, FC personnel have also been deployed on the roads linking Alamdar road with other parts of Quetta city.
Meanwhile, demonstrations were taking place in different cities of Pakistan against the carnage in Quetta on Thursday, and violence against the Hazara Shia community.
Protests were carried out in several places including Lahore, Islamabad, Hyderabad, Sukkur, Khairpur as well as Karachi, where public at the National Highway and Shahrae Faisal suffered due to traffic jams resulting from the demonstrations. The Islamabad Expressway also faced similar jams due to protests, while a candlelight vigil was carried out in Lahore in solidarity with the victims of Thursday’s blasts.
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http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2013\01\13\story_13-1-2013_pg12_5
1,113 children murdered last year: report
KARACHI: Growing lawlessness in the country and weak role of police and law enforcers have resulted in spike in the cases violence against children in Pakistan, as 1,113 children were murdered and 1,374 injured alone in the year 2012, said human rights attorney Zia Ahmed Awan.
The government agencies have failed to provide security to people and the lack of the rule of law has further aggravated the human rights situation in the country, he said, adding children being the most vulnerable section of society were paying a high price, as all types of crimes and violence against them were on sharp rise.
Awan, who is also president of Lawyers of Human Rights and Legal Aid (LHRLA) and founder of Madadgaar National Helpline, said their database showed that from January to December 2012, as many as 6,444 cases of violence against children were reported by mainstream media in Pakistan. He said during their period 1,113 children were murdered, 582 kidnapped, 246 sodomised, 455 sexually assaulted, 330 raped and 235 trafficked.
He said 476 cases of forced marriages, 188 of Karo-kari, 582 of torture, 195 of Vani were reported, while 355 children committed suicide.
He said 1,374 children were injured. Out of total cases of violence against children, there were 3,682 boys and 2,762 victim of child abuse. He said of those cases, as many as 2,947 cases were reported in Punjab, 1,818 in Sindh, 1,073 in Khyber Pakhtun-khwa and 606 in Balochistan. He said the Pakistan was the world’s second largest countries in the terms of out of school children.
Zia asked the government and civil society to take a serious notice of growing violence against children and devise practical and workable solutions to ensure the safeguard of their rights. ppi
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