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PARACHINAR/ ISLAMABAD/ KARACHI: Thousands of Shia Muslims including Ismailis and other minorities belong with Hindu, Christian, Baha’i, Sikh, Parsi and other non-Muslims have been either murdered, injured, kidnapped and missed forcibly in Pakistan during last four decades but neither the law Enforcement Agencies (LEAs) even could arrest the killers nor sectarian violence stops.
According to the victims’ families the activists of defunct organizations like Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan & Afghanistan (TTP&A), Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LeJ), Jaish-e-Muhammad (JeM), Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistan (SSP), Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA), Daulat-e-Islamia (DeI) also known as Daesh or ISIS have not only been threatening them yet but forced to leave the country while almost all LEAs even don’t know the whereabouts of them but also seem to completely fail in-front of them.
Neither the local, national and international media reported one of the largest “Shia Target killing Incidents” of the year of 2024 nor none of one political, religious and social leader even any of human rights activists or organization raised any voice or condemned the horrific, barbarian and anti-human terror attack that took place Thursday in northern Pakistan in which 42 Shia Muslims including women and children were brutally murdered on 22-11-2024 but once again, world remained silent over Shia Target Killing in Pakistan.
Protesters in Pakistan’s restive northwest chanted anti-government slogans Friday as funeral prayers were held for 42 Shiite Muslims who were ambushed and martyred by gunmen in one of the deadliest such assaults in recent years.
The victims were traveling in a convoy of several vehicles from the northwestern city of Parachinar to Peshawar, the capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.
Survivors said the assailants emerged from a vehicle and sprayed the buses and cars with bullets. Nobody has claimed responsibility for the attack and police have not identified a motive.
Meanwhile, Pakistani authorities say they have negotiated a seven-day ceasefire after more than 80 Shia Muslims were martyred in renewed sectarian violence in the north-west of the country during last 72 hours.
Another 156 are said to have been wounded in three days of fighting in the tribal district of Kurram, near the Afghan border.
The violence began on Thursday, when gunmen attacked convoys of Shia Muslims travelling through the area under police escort. More than 48 martyred in that incident, which triggered revenge attacks.
Shia and Sunni Muslims have engaged in tribal and sectarian rivalries over land disputes for decades, an official told PMI on anonymity condition.
After negotiations on Sunday, government spokesman Muhammad Ali Saif said that both Shi’ite and Sunni leaders had agreed to halt the violence, media reported.
On Sunday a local administration official told PMI; “the clashes and convoy attacks on November 21, 22, and 23 have resulted in 82 fatalities and 156 injuries.”
Speaking on condition of anonymity, he said that 16 of the dead were Sunni and 70 belonged to the Shia community.
One of arrested activists of a defunct organization revealed on Tuesday that he has kidnapped and murdered 46 Shia and Ismaili people including women & children during last 3 years while injured dozens others across Pakistan while his companions are involved in hundreds of incidents of target killings of minorities.
He further told before a combined interrogation team that he wanted to kidnap kids of Shia Ismaili community and attempted twice to abduct Rumi and his parents Munaf & Nazleen in February 2021 but failed because of heavy public rush and strict security.
Answering a question he disclosed that his Amir Qari Fasihullah ordered him to leave Pakistan in October due to unsuccessful tasks in February and September 2021 in Karachi while his companions are also directed to go to underground.
Pashtun Qaumi Jirga comprising all political parties and the provincial government-sponsored jirga separately held negotiations with representatives of the two sides to Kurram conflict to restore lasting peace in the region.
Amid the peace negotiations continuing for the last five days, main Parachinar road and other arteries in the area remained closed to traffic.
Malik Naseer Kokikhel, Shahpur Khan and Mufti Kifayatullah told journalists on Saturday that the members of Pashtun Qaumi Jirga held negotiations with the elders of both the parties in Sadda, Parachinar and other places in Kurram tribal district.
On the other hand, the provincial government-sponsored jirga, consisting of elders of Orakzai, Hangu and Kohat, is also engaged in negotiations with the elders of the two sides in the commissioner’s office in Kohat.
According to the deputy commissioner of Kurram, Javedullah Mahsud, the elders during the jirga in Kohat had agreed to an indefinite ceasefire agreement and negotiations were underway for a formal ceasefire agreement.
The situation has become worst in different parts of the KPK especially Parachinar because of continuous sit-in on three main highways of Parachinar and over two hundred people including 106 children have been dead during last 33 month, sources concluded.
