9th anniversary of Alamdar Road blast: Hazara community holds candlelight vigil

Islamabad: To observe the 9th anniversary of Alamdar Road blast, civil society members, human rights activists and members of Hazara community held a candlelight vigil in front of National Press Club expressing solidarity with the Hazara community members who lost their lives in Alamdar Road blast on January 10, 2013.

They rejected any peace deal of the government with extremist militant groups and demanded punishment for those involved in blasts. They demanded UN Human Rights Commission to send fact finding mission on Hazara Genocide and urged UNHCR to protect thousands of Hazaras stranded in refugee camps in Indonesia.

“Thousands of Hazaras were forced to flee abroad with many died in failed migration attempt or target killed in Pakistan or Afghanistan over the recent past decades,” said Fatima Atif, Hazara human rights activist. She said that Hazara refugees are in bad shape in Indonesian refugee camps and need world attention.

Fatima said that a visit to the Qabristan-e-Shuhada (Hazara Martyrs’ Cemetery Quetta) drives one to incessant tears. “It has turned into a communal meeting place for all those who will never cease to grieve for their lost loved ones. Children celebrate their birthdays at the grave of their fathers. The scene at the graveyard can’t be describes in words. It has to be seen and experienced to be believed,” she further said.

Eminent rights activist Tahira Abdullah said that they would never forgive or forget that fateful day and would never let the government forget the pain Hazara community passed through that day.

“We lost hundreds of precious lives that blood soaked year. We remember them all. Weather 3500 Hazaras have been target-killed with impunity or only one – even one is too many. We will never accept or forgive or forget.

We will never let our state forget or cowardly appease and mainstream the TTP-those who proudly claim responsibility of Hazara genocide,” she said. The protest was also joined by former Senator Farhatullah Babar. He said that Hazara community is suffering on both sides of the border.

“Even after 9 years, those who were behind Alamdar blasts are still free. No even that, more concerning is the fact that the state has surrendered before those forces,” he said while appreciating Hazara community for standing with the state despite these injustices.