Agony of Hazaras: A story of denied Justice

by Tauqeer Abbas
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The Hazara community has asked the Supreme Court to appoint a judicial commission — similar to the one constituted in the wake of deadly twin bombings that targeted lawyers in Quetta — to identify the state elements responsible for perpetuating atrocities against the minority.

 

On Monday, Hazara Action Committee (HAC) chairman Liaquat Hazara appeared before a bench, headed by Justice Asif Saeed Khosa, which was following up on the critical Quetta Commission report, authored by Justice Qazi Faez Isa.

 

The court disposed of the main case and directed that the bench would pass an appropriate order in this regard.

 

 According to the HAC, at least 2,000 Hazaras have been killed in targeted attacks over the last 18 years. Some of the worst attacks involving suicide bombings in and close to the Hazara Town area killed hundreds from the community five years ago. And the killings have continued, with seven Hazaras killed in two separate gun attacks on their vehicles in September and October last year.

 

The Supreme Court has said that the bench will pass an appropriate order in this respect. The reality, however, is that even if a commission is set up, as happened after the killing of nearly 100 lawyers in Quetta in a militant attack in August 2016, this is unlikely to solve the problem. In the past, judicial commissions have achieved very little. This is not a matter of identifying the groups responsible.

 

We know who these extremists are and we have been made familiar with the hatred that drives them. The problem is apprehending them. The indication by the HAC that they had support from powerful elements should indeed be investigated. Sadly, however, given the intolerance we have created within our country, the Hazara community continue to face special risks because they are easy to identify on the basis of ethnicity.

 

 

 We have already left too late the task of saving them. Drastic action on several fronts would be required if Pakistan and Quetta were to become a more hospitable place for the Hazaras, who areas are equal and valuable citizens of this land.

 

pk.shafaqna.com

 

 

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