Quetta protest against targeted killings enters second day

QUETTA: Majlis-i-Wahdat-i-Muslimeen’s (MWM) protest against unabated killings of members of Hazara community continued for the second consecutive day on Tuesday.

The protest camp has been set up outside the Balochistan Assembly, while provincial minister Syed Agha Raza is leading the protest.

Along with the sit-in outside the assembly, a hunger strike is also being staged by Hazara community women outside the Quetta Press Club. Social activist Advocate Jalila Haider is leading the strike. 

The protesters demand an immediate end to the targetting of Hazara community members and arrest of culprits involved in this heinous acts. 

On Monday night, Interior Minister Ahsan Iqbal visited the protest camp and held talks with Raza. The protesters refused to end their protest until Chief of Army Staff General Qamar Javed Bajwa visited them.

Iqbal expressed solidarity with the protesters over the killing of two Hazara men by terrorists. “In last five years, the situation has much improved with killings dropping from 215 in 2014 to 8. Our efforts will continue to bring it to zero,” he wrote on social media.

A string of successive incidents of targeted killings has spread a wave of terror among citizens of Quetta. At least six people have been killed and three wounded in different incidents of targeted killings in the provincial capital over the last three days.

On April 27, brother of prayer leader at a local mosque was shot dead on Toghi Road. A day later, two other people were killed on Jamaluddin Afghani Road. The deceased belonged to Hazara community.

Moreover, three people were killed when unknown assailants opened indiscriminate fire on shops on Jan Mohammad Road on April 29. 

Following the targeted attacks, a shutter-down strike was observed in some parts of Quetta while Hazara Democratic Party, spearheaded by Ahmed Ali Kohzad, held a rally.