Asmatyari

Thousands sat in protest against the January 10 blast that murdered 100 Hazaras this weekend. However, the demand for army takeover ignored the institution’s incompetence, or unwillingness, to take on the killers. Hazaras had yet to recover from the pains of the twin blasts on Alamdar Road on January 10, when another bomb destroyed the lives of hundreds of innocent people, leaving scores more behind. Like the last blast, this one prompted the relatives of those who died to sit in protest against government apathy. Over the last seven years, 1200 Hazaras have died and the government and killers who have taken public responsibility for the attacks–Lashkar-e-Jhangvi–are still at large. The country-wide sit-in was called by Majlis-e-Wahdat-ul-Muslimeen (MWM) and the Shia Ulma Council (SUC) with unanimous support from local Shia organizations. At a time of mourning and loss, religion can be a powerful organizer–especially when the Hazaras Shia faith is precisely the reason they are killed. But, the Shia groups who played a key role in organizing the protestors irresponsibly played with emotions, articulating a demand–namely the take-over of Quetta by the army–that does not reflect the real wishes of the Hazara people, nor the structural causes of the killings. Later, […]