18 Shia Muslims including 3 women 3 children were killed and eight others were injured on Tuesday when Wahabi terrorists of Sipah-e-Sahaba and Lashkar-e-Jhangvi stopped passengers and ordered them to get off the bus on Karakoram Highway in the district of Kohistan.

The bus No. 8371 owned by Mashaburum private bus service was carrying at least 39 passengers on board from Gilgit to Rawalpindi.

Eight armed terrorists of banned outfit Sipah-e-Sahaba and Lashkar-e-Jhangvi stopped two buses and a coaster. The terrorists were reported to be in Army uniform. They asked the passengers to get off the bus and shot them after checking their CNICs.

“All the people on board were Shia Muslims, and at the moment it looks like they were targeted by armed men from the local Sunni community,” a senior police official told Reuters.

A spokesman belongs to Jandullah faction of the Pakistani Taliban, a Sunni militant group, claimed responsibility for the killings.

The bodies of the killed have been kept at Shatial hospital.

Abdul Sattar, a local lawmaker (MP), said eight gunmen were involved in the ambush, and all were wearing military uniforms, presumably to make it easier to stop the bus.

Kohistan borders the Swat valley, where Pakistan in 2009 managed to put down a two-year Taliban insurgency.

Human rights groups have heavily criticized the Pakistani government for failing to crackdown on sectarian violence between the country’s majority Sunni and minority Shiite Muslim communities that has killed thousands.

A suicide bomb attack on a market in a Shia area in north-west Pakistan has killed 30 Shia and injured at least 50 others, officials say.

The death toll from Friday’s suicide blast and subsequent firing by security forces on protesters in Parachinar rose to 44 on Saturday.18 Shia were killed in bus ambush in Kohistan, Pakistan.

The attacker blew himself up close to a mosque in the town of Parachinar in Pakistan’s tribal region of Kurram.

Three more Shia died when security forces fired on crowds protesting against the attack.

According to Reuters news agency, Pakistani Taliban were behind this attack.

Shia of Parachinar are victims of human rights violations. According to our reporter, there have been a lot of crime in this area which SRW will cover in their Shia Pakistan report latter.

List of some of the Shia killed in Parachinar on 17 Feb 2012

1) Johar Ali s/o Shafat Ali (Mulana)
2) Qaisar Hussain s/o Abdullah Shaikh
3) Ali Raza s/o M Qamber Shakardara
4) Yaqoob s/o Ghulam Ali  Shangak
5) Murtuza s/o Burer Hussain Salozan
6) Shuqat Hussain s/o Akber Hussain
7/ Mazahir Hussain s/o Akber Hussain Malikhel
8) Syed Saber Hussain s/o Nabi Zareen
9) Jan Agha s/o Noor Hussain Khoshi
10) Shujat Hussain s/o Hussain Ghulam Zareen
11) Hadayet Hussain s/o Moheb Ali Dahl
12) Syed Istyaq Hussain s/o Syed Akber Zareen
13) Habib Hussain s/o Imran Ali
14) Jameel Hussain s/o Ali Zaman
15) Azgher Ali s/o Dafter Ali Salozan
16) Irfan Ali s/o Sultan Ali Zareen
17) Ghulam Hussain s/o Meer Hasan Zareen
18) Haider Abbas s/o Meer Hasan Zareen
19) Bahar Hussain s/o Iqbal Hussain Molana
20) Rashed Hussain s/o Liyaqt Hussain Pewar
21) Wajid Hussain s/o Manzoor Ali Zeran
22) Manzoor Ali Zeran
23) Qasir Hussian s/o Mohib Haji Boshera
24) Noor Aalm s/o Hamid Sapar shaheed upon firing of Rangers
25) Ikhtiar Sapar
26) Rashid Ali s/o Ali Mohammed Kirman, shaheed upon firing of Rangers
27) Arif s/o Hasan Kirman
28) Gulzar Sholazan
29) Wajid Ali s/o Manzoor Ali Zeeran
30) Ikhtiar Zeeran, shaheed upon firing of Rangers
31) S Asif Hussain s/o Syed Hasan Jan Kirman,
32) Kamran Ali s/o Imran Ali, Shablan
33) Mashad Hussain s/o Sultan Hasan, Gwadarm
34) Zeeshan s/o Ashiq Hussain, Kara Khela
35) Qaisar Ali s/o Naseeb Ali, Khawat
36) Shujaat, Baghdi
37) Kamran Ali s/o Mukhtar Ali, Zeeran
38) Abid Hussain, Zeeran
39) S Asif Hussain s/o Syed Hur Hussain, Kirman
40) Javaid hussain s/o Imran Ali Kirman
41) Wahab Ali s/o Noor Ali Pawar
42) Syed Mohd s/o Wilayat Hussain Kirman
43) Turab Ali s/o Hussain Ali Shalozan
44) Sahid Hussain s/o Ahmed Ali Pawar

Pakistani Shia citizen Ghulam Hussain was gunned down by the Wahhabi terrorists of Sipah-e-Sahaba and Lashkar-e-Jhangi in Karachi on Friday afternoon Nov,25^th 2011.

 According to informed sources, the target of killing Shia Muslims have been continued in the metropolis. The recent killing of Ghulam Hussain, 70, was a part of the ongoing target killing of the Shiite Muslims community in Karachi.

He was gunned down by the armed terrorists of Sipah-e-Sahaba and Lashkar-e-Jhangvi in the remit of North Nazimabad police station, when he was going to offer the noon prayer for the nearest mosque.

It may be noted here that the leaders of the Shia community have expressed their concerns over the activities of the outlawed terrorists outfits in Karachi but the government has not taken any action against the criminal activities of the banned outfits.

In yet another attack targeting Shia Muslims in Pakistan. Militants belonging to outlawed Lashkar-e-Jhangvi group today stormed a bus carrying members from the minority community, gunning down at least 13 of them and injuring seven more in the restive Balochistan province. Three gunmen travelling in a pick-up truck stopped the bus with about 30 passengers in Akhtarabad area on the outskirts of provincial capital Quetta, witnesses said.

Two gunmen then entered the bus and fired indiscriminately, they said. Thirteen men, most of them Shia Hazaras, were killed and seven others injured, police said. The injured were taken to the Bolan Medical Complex and those with critical wounds were shifted to Quetta’s military hospital.

Officials described the condition of three of the injured as serious. The attackers fled from the area before it was cordoned off by police and paramilitary Frontier Corps personnel. Witnesses said all the slain men were labourers who were going to a fruit and vegetable market for work. Ali Sher Haidry, a spokesman for Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, telephoned reporters in Quetta and claimed responsibility for the killings. Haidry had made similar claims for attacks on Shias in the past.

The claim came hours after the Chief Justice of Balochistan High Court banned the publication of threatening statements from militants. City police chief Ahsan Mehboob removed a police officer from his post for failing to provide security to the bus in the wake of several attacks on vehicles carrying Shia Hazaras in Quetta and nearby areas.

Source:ebaa.ne

By Gul Yusufzai

QUETTA, Pakistan (Reuters) – Gunmen opened fire on a bus in Pakistan’s southwestern province of Baluchistan in a suspected sectarian attack on Tuesday, killing at least 26 Shi’ite Muslim pilgrims traveling to Iran, police said.

Four assailants attacked the bus carrying more than 50 pilgrims near Mastung town around 50 km (30 miles) from the provincial capital of Quetta.

“They opened fire on the bus from all four sides. Then they got into the bus and fired again,” a police official in Mastung said.

Three more people were killed when gunmen opened fire on an ambulance near Quetta as it headed to the attack site in Mastung.

Sunni Muslim militants loyal to al Qaeda and the Taliban have carried out high-profile attacks on members of Pakistan’s Shi’ite minority in the past.

“Two vehicles intercepted the bus. Forced all the passengers off and opened fire. Many of them fled,” the driver of the bus, Khushal Khan, told reporters at the scene of the blast.

“They were eight to 10 men and they were carrying rocket launchers and Kalashnikovs.”

Some shoes of the victims were scattered in the area. Rescue workers removed bodies from the spot.

Sunni militants have stepped up attacks against Shi’ites in Baluchistan in recent months.

Ethnic Baluch militants have been waging a low-level insurgency in Baluchistan for years for more autonomy and greater control over natural resources of the region.

Officials say there is no evidence linking them with Islamist militants.

At least 10 Shi’ites were killed in a suicide bombing near Quetta on the Muslim festival of Eid on August 31.

Pakistan has seen a surge in violence since al Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden was killed by U.S. special forces in a secret raid in a Pakistani town in May.

Militants have vowed revenge for bin Laden’s death.

(Writing by Zeeshan Haider; Editing by Sugita Katyal)

reuters.com

Two despicable terrorist attacks targeting the Shiites in Pakistan should ring alarm bells but it seems that the Pakistani state is oblivious to any such warnings. On Eid day, 11 people lost their lives while more than a dozen others were injured when a suicide bomber targeted a Shia congregation offering Eid prayers in Quetta. A day later, seven Shias were killed when gunmen opened fire on a minibus on its way to Parachinar in Kurram Agency. There are not enough words to condemn the attack on a mosque on Eid day and another attack on innocent travellers on the second day of Eid. Hazara Shias in Balochistan and Shias in Parachinar have been targeted continuously by sectarian groups over the years. The resurgence of sectarian groups is alarming. In the 1980s and 90s, sectarian killings became a norm in Pakistan because of General Ziaul Haq’s extremist policies. The military and its intelligence agencies aided and abetted sectarian groups like the Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistan (SSP), among others to pursue the state’s nefarious agendas as well as their own. The Wahabi school of thought, propagated through Saudi-funded madrassas and organisations, are inherently anti-Shia. Saudi Arabia’s enmity with Shiite Iran is no secret. Wahabis have been using Pakistan to fight their proxy war against Iran and Shias in the region for decades now. Pakistani mercenary forces are presently being used in Bahrain to barbarically quell the majority Shiite uprising.

Pakistan’s military and its intelligence agencies are very active when it comes to intimidating, harassing and killing Baloch nationalists and/or progressive elements in the country. But when it comes to protecting the Shias or religious minorities, these same forces are found wanting in their duties. It seems that our law enforcement and security agencies have turned a blind eye to the massacre of Shias in Balochistan, Kurram and elsewhere in the country despite there being a pattern of systematic attacks on Shias. The reasons behind this could be many. Either the security forces are helpless, plain incompetent or complicit in these attacks. Whatever the reasons for the security agencies’ failure in protecting the citizens of Pakistan, especially the Shias, it is beyond disgusting that the ‘Islamic Republic of Pakistan’ continues to ignore the plight of its Shias. We have seen several terrorist attacks on Shiite processions in the holy month of Muharram. Even though the state provides some sort of security during Muharram, the Shia community itself is far more vigilant than our law enforcement agencies. This is a sad state of affairs because it is the responsibility of the state to ensure the safety of its citizens, be they from any sect or religion.

The Pakistani state is fast turning into one of the most intolerant societies in the world. Attacks on the Ahmediyya community, Christians, Hindus and Sikhs are usually swept under the carpet while the attacks on Shias are condemned but not much is done to counter these attacks or nail the culprits. This gives a signal of poor law enforcement and gives rise to a climate where the country is seen as a pariah state. Islam preaches tolerance but our ruling elite think that just by naming our country an ‘Islamic Republic’ we have done great service to Islam. On the contrary, by mixing religion and the state’s affairs we have made Pakistan into a quasi-theocratic state fast turning into an extremist hotbed. In order to save Pakistan from poisonous elements, the country must be turned into a pluralistic, democratic and secular state.

The passenger vehicle was traveling from the town of Ali Zai in Lower Kurram to Parachinar as the nation celebrated Eid al-Fitr when the armed assailants opened fire, killing four people on the spot and severely wounding four others.

Moreover, three of the four wounded people later died at at the Agency Headquarter Hospital while the fourth was said to be in critical condition.

Meanwhile, local tribesmen were reported to have engaged the fleeing attackers in a gun-battle.

Six out of the seven people who lost their lives in the incident belonged to the same family.

On Wednesday in a powerful blast at least 11 Shiite Muslims were killed and 22 injured when a bomb was detonated on Gulistan Road  in the Murriabad area of  Quetta out side of Jamia Imamia Imambargah .

An army operation called Operation Koh-e-Sufaid in Kurram Agency, which was launched to clear the area of militants whose fighting had increased the incidence of sectarian killings, kidnapping, and extortion in the agency, also recently ended.

Pro-Taliban groups have launched a violent campaign against Shia Muslims, and appear to have widened their terror campaign in major Pakistani cities.

Several Shia religious gatherings have been targeted in different parts of the country over the past few months.

Meanwhile, Taliban-linked militants in the towns of Parachinar and Hangu and other areas in the Kurram tribal region have killed hundreds of community members over the past few months.

Taliban’s influence is also rapidly increasing its grip on the major cities and even the so-called settled areas in the country.

Shia sources say they make up one-third of Pakistan’s population of nearly 170 million.

Since the 1980s, thousands of people have been killed in sectarian-related incidents in Pakistan.

The Nasabi-Wahabi terrorists of Taliban on Friday killed the Five Shia Muslims hails from Parachinar including a woman on the failure to get the ransom amount of 6 to 10 million rupees to release these innocent people.