LUBP commends Zohra Yusuf and her team at Human Rights Commmission of Pakistan (HRCP) on issuing a bold statement on the ongoing Shia genocide in Pakistan. The HRCP’s statement not only highlights State’s failure to protect Shias but also points towards the complicity between the Lashkar-e-Jahangvi (LeJ aka Ahle Sunnat Wal Jamat ASWJ) and certain pro-Taliban element withihin security agencies.

HRCP said that Pakistan’s state has failed to prevent the blatant killings of people on account of their religious beliefs. In a statement issued Friday, HRCP Chairperson Zohra Yusaf expressed grief over the killing of 18 Shia Muslim pilgrims in Quetta on June 28. Hinting at Lashkar-e-Jhangvi’s involvement behind the gruesome killings, HRCP called for an inquiry into the militant group’s alleged links with Pakistan’s security agencies.

There are, however, glaring ommissions in the Urdu translation reported by BBC Urdu website where Shia genocide has been misrepresented in ethnic terms and Hazra ethnicity has been described as Hazara sect (Hazra friqah) etc.

HRCP’s original statement is provided below.

Shia pilgrims’ killing exposes state’s criminal negligence

In a statement issued on Friday, the Commission said: “HRCP shares the grief of the families of those killed and injured in Thursday’s terrorist attack in Quetta…

Lahore, June 29: The killing of Shia pilgrims in Balochistan on Thursday again demonstrates that terrorists persist with their vicious and systematic campaign to target citizens on account of their religious beliefs as state has either been unwilling or increasingly unable to prevent the blatant killings, the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) has said.

In a statement issued on Friday, the Commission said:

“HRCP shares the grief of the families of those killed and injured in Thursday’s terrorist attack in Quetta that targeted a bus of Shia pilgrims. After the brazen attack on a bus of Iran-bound pilgrims in Mastung district of Balochistan last year, it was certain that unless the culprits were brought to justice they will strike again. They did so on Thursday. This time the bus had a police escort and yet, as in the Mastung attack, neither the attack could be foiled nor perpetrators captured. About the only difference was that those dead and injured were taken to hospitals relatively quickly. The number of Shias killed in systemic and targeted attacks in Balochistan in 2012 alone has exceeded 60. Everyone knows who the perpetrators are. With each attack, allegations of the attackers enjoying sympathy and support among the security forces gain more credence, at least in the views of the targeted community. In the circumstances, the Shia population of Balochistan, and the Iran-bound pilgrims in particular, understandably feel like sitting ducks. Little wonder then that many young people from the community are prepared to take their chances to flee the country in search of safety, often risking travel in rickety boats in shark-infested waters to do so. At least 70 young men from the community had drowned in one such attempt in Indonesian waters in 2011.

“HRCP unequivocally condemns the attack and is shocked by the authorities’ inability or unwillingness to act against terrorist outfit Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, which has repeatedly claimed responsibility for these attacks. The promised probe into the attack must also look into charges of support for the terrorists among the security agencies. It has also been alleged that the Iran-bound pilgrims targeted on Thursday were originally sitting in various buses but the authorities asked them all to go in one bus, which was later targeted. Some members of the community have interpreted that as proof at least some elements in the law enforcement agencies working hand in glove with the terrorists. HRCP cannot vouch for the veracity of this claim but that too should be investigated. The government should try and imagine the plight of the community whose systematic targeting is now little short of naked persecution. HRCP is sure that unless unambiguous will of the state to bring the killers to justice is demonstrated Pakistan will become an even more unlivable place than it already is.”

Zohra Yusuf
Chairperson

Comment by Shaheryar Ali:

In my view, it’s a very important statement. For the first time, HRCP has conceded two main points: (1) cause of attrocities is victims’ faith (Shia sect); and (2) state is involved.

Because of legal restrictions, they can go as far as that, but I think they should be encouraged. I suspect that other organizations will follow suit. The atrocities against Shia Muslims in Pakistan have reached a threshold that even the reformist circles have to come out against them. And its important that if such opinions come forward from other organizations and intellectuals, they must be encouraged to see if an effective advoocacy can emerge.

The statement per se will not stop the atrocities but it’s important that State (particularly army) is being implicated. Sooner or later, these reports and statements will be counted as evidence against these murderers.

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