Hazara Shia killings tantamount to genocide, says chief justice

Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Mian Saqib Nisar on Friday said that the Shia Hazara killings in Balochistan are tantamount to genocide, which is why the court took a suo motu notice of the targeted attacks.

A two-member Supreme Court (SC) bench, comprising Justice Nisar and Justice Ijazul Ahsan, was hearing a suo motu case regarding the targeted killing of the Hazara community in Quetta. The CJP had taken a suo motu notice after the Hazara community staged a protest against the recent increase in targeted attacks that killed at least five people within a month.
“In my opinion, this [Shia Hazara killing] is equivalent to genocide,” said Justice Nisar. “We have to protect the lives and property of the [people of the Shia] Hazara community.”
“We have no words to condemn these unfortunate attacks,” lamented the CJP.
A report on Shia Hazara killings was submitted in court by Quetta Deputy Inspector General (DIG) Abdur Razzaq Cheema on the CJP’s orders. According to the report, 399 Shia Muslims, 36 Sunni and 29 settlers from the Shia Hazara community have been killed in targeted attacks during the past six years.
In the past four months, nine people from the Shia Hazara community have been murdered, the report stated. It added that 28 security officials have been killed so far in 2018. However, the situation has improved a lot now, Cheema claimed.
Advocate Iftikhar Ali, who was representing the Shia Hazara community, lamented that targeted killings of the ethnic minority have been going on for 20 years, yet not a single arrest has been made.
“Our lives and property are being endangered,” he said. “Our people had to leave for Australia [to escape the situation].”
Ali also alleged that the police had withdrawn security from their community elders as well. The accusation was denied by Cheema.