{"id":6405,"date":"2018-04-25T09:07:19","date_gmt":"2018-04-25T09:07:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hrcp-web.org\/hrcpweb\/?p=6405"},"modified":"2021-12-15T09:08:39","modified_gmt":"2021-12-15T09:08:39","slug":"spike-in-violence-in-quetta-must-stop","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hrcp-web.org\/hrcpweb\/spike-in-violence-in-quetta-must-stop\/","title":{"rendered":"Spike in violence in Quetta must stop"},"content":{"rendered":"

Spike in violence in Quetta must stop<\/a><\/h1>\n

Lahore<\/b>,\u00a0<\/b>25 April 2018<\/b>. The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) has strongly condemned the surge in deadly attacks in\u00a0Quetta\u00a0during the current month of April. In yesterday\u2019s incident, six policemen were killed in a suicide attack on a police van, which occurred in tandem with another attack outside a Frontier Corps check-post that left eight personnel injured.<\/p>\n

\u00a0In a statement issued today, HRCP has taken \u2018grave notice of the alarming spike in violence that has shot through Quetta since the beginning of April\u2019, adding that, \u2018apart from yesterday\u2019s brazen attack on security forces, members of the Christian and Shia Hazara communities have borne the brunt of a spate of suspected targeted killings.\u2019 On 1 April, a Shia Hazara was killed and another injured when unidentified gunmen opened fire on their car. On 15 April, four Christians travelling in a rickshaw were killed in a firing incident near a church in the city. Three days later, on 18 April, a Shia Hazara shopkeeper was killed in a drive-by shooting, which police suspect was a targeted killing. On 22 April, another two Shia Hazara men were killed and a third injured in a firing incident in\u00a0Quetta\u2019s Western Bypass area.<\/p>\n

HRCP remains \u2018extremely concerned over the continuing violence in\u00a0Quetta\u2014much of which systematically targets members of religious minorities\u2014and the lack of an effective and sustained response from the state.\u2019 According to a recent report issued by the National Commission for Human Rights, 509 members of the Hazara community alone were killed, and 627 injured, in terrorist attacks over the last five years. \u2018That the law enforcement agencies responsible for protecting citizens also continue to be targeted, underlines the deeper law and order problem that beleaguers the province.\u2019 The Commission has urged the government to bring the perpetrators of these crimes swiftly to justice and to clamp down visibly on elements bent on fomenting violence against minority communities.<\/p>\n

Dr. Mehdi Hasan<\/b><\/p>\n

Chairperson<\/p>\n

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