Fear still haunts Hazaras in Quetta

The snooker club, which was first targeted by terrorists during the January 10 attack on Shia Hazaras in Maryabad, is being reconstructed and a crater left in the road by a second, more destructive explosion on the same day has been filled. But the memories of that day will not fade for a long time, as the community lives in constant fear.

The January 10 attack and the mid-February attack on another Hazara settlement in the provincial capital, where a single explosion killed 90 people, not only made fear a constant companion of society, but also affected their lives in ways they least expected.

Tightening security in the two settlements pushed the community further into a ghetto. Since no one was allowed into the two districts without documents, shop owners complained that their businesses were suffering as they now catered only to the Hazara community as people from other districts and nationalities avoided shopping here due to the restrictions.

“The increased security has in some ways spelled doom for our small businesses,” Sher Mohammad told a group of visiting foreign journalists. And with many community members wary of venturing outside the populated areas for fear of being targeted by the Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LeJ), limited liquidity is affecting purchasing power. A few months ago, LeJ launched an SMS service in some places in the city, asking people to report to a specific mobile number as soon as they spot Hazaras, who are easily identified by their Mongoloid features.

Those who work in government agencies say their colleagues and supervisors understand their predicament and allow them to miss work if rumors of an increased threat reach them on a given day. The provincial government, both Hazaras and non-Hazaras, vouch, is accommodating in this regard. However, this consideration does not apply to those working in the private sector. Having no choice but to go out and work, they do so with their hearts in their mouths.

Because these two communities are old and there are schools in the area, school education has not been hit as hard as higher education. Attendance among Hazara students tends to be uneven, although they have returned to their colleges; but their education under these circumstances is a matter of concern to the society, which places great importance on the education of both boys and girls.

Students and teachers of Balochistan University of Information Technology, Engineering and Management (BUITEMS) noted the ironic situation created by the security measures. After three students and a teacher were killed in a bomb attack on a bus transporting students from the community just outside the university’s main gate last year, bus service to two Hazara settlements was suspended for security reasons.

Consequently, students now have to wait for university buses in designated areas far outside their colonies, exposing themselves to the risk of being attacked in ones or twos, which has become quite common in the past year. Although the number of such attacks has decreased since two major bombings this year, fear has become a constant in their lives.

According to Abdul Khaliq Hazar, chairman of the Hazara Democratic Party (HDP), many members of his community have fled the country. He puts the figure at one lakh, but there is no data to support this claim. “We want to leave, but it’s not an easy option. None of them are moving to another city in Pakistan because Shiites are being targeted everywhere and we are easy to recognize,” explained Asadullah Hazara on Alamdar Road, which made international headlines when community members picketed the street in sub-zero temperatures with the bodies of their dead in January.

In the case of the Hazara political leadership, the threat also affected their election campaign. The HDP leader, who is contesting the general elections in Quetta, complained that the threat had prevented him from campaigning outside Hazara areas. Although Quetta has always been a cosmopolitan city where all communities lived in harmony, the growing radicalization of society has led to the Hazaras becoming unsure of their Baloch and Pashtun neighbors, especially the former, as police claim there is a nexus between the sectarian Lashkar-e-Jhangvi movement and some Baloch insurgent groups.

The community is now so traumatized by living on the edge day in and day out that one resident of Maryabad, who wished to remain anonymous, said: “The situation is such that now, even if the terrorists do not want to attack, we are gripped by fear.”

Almost every aspect of their daily lives is affected, but for the Hazaras of Quetta, leaving is not an option as Shias are persecuted everywhere in Pakistan.