AFGHANISTAN/PAKISTAN: Shi'ites in Afghanistan and Pakistan protest against sectarian killings

Record ID: 213894

  • Title: AFGHANISTAN/PAKISTAN: Shi'ites in Afghanistan and Pakistan protest against sectarian killings
  • Date: 19th February 2013
  • Summary: QUETTA, PAKISTAN (FEBRUARY 19, 2013) (REUTERS) WIDE VIEW OF SHI'ITE MUSLIMS STAGING SIT-IN PROTEST DEMONSTRATORS SITTING/HUGE BANNER READING "U.N AND HUMAN RIGHTS ORGANISATIONS, WAKE UP" MAN AT DEMONSTRATION HOLDING UP PLACARD THAT READS "WHAT WE WANT? CRACK DOWN" GIRLS HOLDING UP PLACARDS/ONE PLACARD READING "STOP HAZARA KILLING" GIRLS CHANTING WOMEN AND CHILDREN CHANTING CHILD HOLDING PLACARD CHANTING SHI'ITE SLOGANS SMALL GIRL HOLDING PLACARD THAT SAYS "AM I NEXT?" KARACHI, PAKISTAN (FEBRUARY 19, 2013) (REUTERS) DEMONSTRATOR HOLDING SIT-IN AND CHANTING SHI'ITE SLOGANS WOMEN CHANTING (SOUNDBITE) (Urdu) FEMALE PROTESTER, SYEDA AMBAREEN RAZA, SAYING: "Steps should be taken for peace in Quetta. Sending message of condolence or arrival of the prime minister will not be sufficient. Practical measures should be in place which are not visible so far." WOMEN CHANTING SHI'ITE SLOGANS GIRLS CHANTING VEILED WOMEN CRYING GIRL HOLDING STICK CHANTING SHI'ITE SLOGANS CLERIC SPEAKING (SOUNDBITE) (Urdu) SHI'ITE CLERIC, MAULANA ABDULLAH RIZWANI, SAYING: "Our sit-in will continue till the dead are buried in Quetta, and till their relatives are satisfied and army comes in Quetta." SHI'ITE YOUTH STAGING SIT-IN DEMONSTRATION ON RAILWAY TRACK WHILE CHANTING BOYS CHANTING MORE OF BOYS CHANTING YOUTH CHANTING "GOD IS GREATEST" MORE OF BOYS CHANTING CAR BURNING ON EMPTY STREET CLOSE OF CAR ON FIRE SMOKE KABUL, AFGHANISTAN (FEBRUARY 19, 2013) (REUTERS-ACCESS ALL) VIEW OF KABUL STREET POLICE SOLDIERS ON GUARD AFGHAN SHIITE HAZAR'S ON HUNGER STRIKE MORE OF AFGHAN SHIITE PEOPLE HOLDING BANNERS SITTING ON HUNGER STRIKE BANNER READING "STOP HAZARA'S GENOCIDE IN QUETTA PAKISTAN" AFGHAN WOMAN HOLDING BANNER READING "STOP HAZARA'S GENOCIDE!" MORE OF BANNER READING "STOP HAZARA'S GENOCIDE" 9. SOUNDBITE) (Dari) AFGHAN HAZARA PROTESTER, ZAHRA SEPHR SAYING: "We have gathered here and sit-in hunger strike regarding the systematic killings of Hazara people in Pakistan. We have noticed that Hazara's killings increased in recent years in Pakistan that around hundreds of women and children has been sacrificed, so we are here to raise our voice to the world and express our sympathy with people of Quetta." MORE OF AFGHAN HAZARA PROTESTERS SITTING IN FOOD STRIKE BANNER IN HAND OF A WOMAN PROTESTER READING "JUSTICE" (SOUNDBITE) (English) AFGHAN GHULAM ABBAS WAFA, SAYING: "We demand that the Pakistani government to seriously take action against the terrorist organization specially the Lashkar Jangawi and Sepah e sahaba and decide that to seriously take action and protect the innoncent Hazaras in Quetta Pakistan." BANNER READING: "QUETTA WE ARE WITH YOU" AFGHAN POLICE SOLDIERS GUARDING THE STREET
  • Embargoed: 6th March 2013 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Afghanistan
  • Country: Afghanistan
  • Topics: Crime,Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVADNG4JLE8JNAASXIHF0YFLWTFL
  • Story Text: Thousands of Shi'ite Muslims in Pakistan and Afghanistan continue demonstrations demanding protection from militants, after sectarian killings

    Thousands of Shi'ite Muslims in Pakistan continued to protest in Quetta for a third consecutive day on Tuesday (February 19) after a sectarian attack left 89 people dead on Saturday (February 16).
    The attack, near a street market in the south-western city of Quetta highlighted the government's failure to crack down on militancy in nuclear-armed Pakistan just a few months before a general election is due.
    Protests were also held across all major cities in Pakistan.
    While the Taliban and al Qaeda remain a major source of instability, Sunni extremists, who regard Shi'ites as non-Muslims, have emerged as another significant security threat.
    In Quetta, some ethnic Shi'ite Hazaras are refusing to bury their dead until the army and security forces go after Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LeJ), the group which claimed responsibility for the latest bombing.
    In Karachi, the biggest Pakistani city, protesters held sit-in demonstrations blocking several main roads and a railway track. At least a car and two motorcycles were torched by unknown angry protesters.
    The paramilitary Frontier Corps is largely responsible for security in Baluchistan province, of which Quetta is the capital, but Shi'ites say it is unable or unwilling to protect them.
    Protesters said authorities need to protect residents in Quetta.
    "Steps should be taken for peace in Quetta. Sending messages of condolence or arrival of the prime minister will not be sufficient. Practical measures should be in place which are not visible so far," demonstrator Syeda Ambareen Raza said.
    "Our sit-in will continue till the dead are buried in Quetta, and till their relatives are satisfied and army comes in Quetta," said Maulana Abdullah Rizwani, a Shi'ite cleric.
    In Kabul, Hazara protesters conducted sit-ins in support of the protests in Pakistan.
    "We have gathered here and sit-in hunger strike regarding the systematic killings of Hazara people in Pakistan. We have noticed that Hazara's killings increased in recent years in Pakistan that around hundreds of women and children has been sacrificed, so we are here to raise our voice to the world and express our sympathy with people of Quetta," protester Zahra Sephr said.
    "We demand that the Pakistani government to seriously take action against the terrorist organization specially the Lashkar Jangawi and Sepah e sahaba and decide that to seriously take action and protect the innoncent Hazaras in Quetta Pakistan," Kabul resident Abbas Wafa said.
    LeJ has stepped up suicide bombings and shootings in a bid to destabilise Pakistan and install a Sunni theocracy, an echo of the strategy that al Qaeda pursued to try and trigger a civil war in Iraq several years ago.
    The group was behind a bombing last month in Quetta, near the Afghan border, that killed nearly 100 people.
    President Asif Ali Zardari has said every effort will be made to arrest the culprits and bring them to justice.
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