Two Hazara men gunned down in Quetta

QUETTA/ISLAMABAD: Two men belonging to the Hazara community were shot dead while a third was injured in an incident of firing in Quetta’s Western Bypass area on Sunday.

Police sources said unknown terrorists opened fire and killed two people identified as Muhammad Ali and Muhammad Zaman. One person was wounded as result of firing, the sources said.

The injured was rushed to Bolan Medical Complex Quetta for treatment. Police said the victims were members of the Hazara community and the incident appeared to be a targeted attack. The assailants escaped from the spot. Police and other law enforcement personnel have initiated investigations.

Attacks against Hazaras in Quetta have seen a spike recently with this attack being the second this week alone. A shopkeeper was gunned down in the provincial capital earlier this week while another Hazara man was killed in the beginning of April.

The Hazara community has been targeted by sectarian violence as they are easily identifiable due to their distinctive physical appearance. A report released by the National Commission for Human Rights last month stated that 509 members of Hazara community were killed and 627 injured in various incidents of terrorism in Quetta during the last five years.

Meanwhile, the Patron-in-Chief of Supreme Shia Ulema Board and Chief of Tehreek Nafaz-Fiqh-e-Jafariya (TNFJ) Agha Syed Hamid Ali Shah Moosavi and senior leader of Balochistan Shia Conference Muhammad Ali Razai have strongly condemned the incident and termed it the result of loopholes in implementation of the National Action Plan (NAP), says a press release.

In a reaction issued from the headquarters of the Maktab-e-Tashih, here Sunday, he said there is no Sunni-Shia conflict in Pakistan but the enemy is upset on the Kashmir independence movement and the CPEC project as a result of which they desire to destabilise the motherland.