The four Hazara women shot on a public bus by two armed motorcyclists as they travelled from the heart of Quetta city into Hazara Town must constitute the easiest target of all. Police say the women were picked out on the basis of their ethnicity – and possibly their sect. They are among the hundreds of Hazaras killed within the past five years solely on the basis of their ethnic and sectarian identity. As police pointed out after the latest incident in Quetta, the fact that Hazaras are easily recognisable makes them particularly vulnerable to the targeted killings that have decimated the peaceful community. Naturally this brutal act of mowing down helpless bus passengers who could do nothing to defend themselves will bring no comfort to the already fear-stricken Hazaras of Quetta. It has been believed that sectarian groups in the country have been responsible for the bombings which ripped through Hazara Town in 2013 and in other parts of Quetta over the years. But with the regional situation complicated by the heightened animosity with India, there is also a risk that elements based beyond our borders could take advantage of the divides along sectarian lines we have permitted to tear through our country and engage in actions intended to pull them wider.
Despite the calls for inquiries and condemnations from the top provincial officials in Quetta, it will not be easy to detect who carried out the killings. This has been the pattern in the past. It is also why we have been unable to stop such murders. Even though there have been far fewer mass bombings this year and the year before it, targeted killings of Hazaras and other Shias including pilgrims travelling across the border into Iran or back have continued. In the last 15 years, an estimated 1,400 Shias have been killed in Balochistan. This is a shameful number. The new deaths in the month of Muharram also add to the dangers that always lurk during this sensitive time and remind us that we are still a long way off from turning our country into a place within which all citizens can be safe regardless of their belief, their ethnicity or their political affiliation. The fate of the Hazara population of Quetta tells the story of an entire country that has fallen victim to forces operating both from within and from the outside.