The writer is a freelance columnist based in Islamabad As I write this column it is being reported in the media that 25 passengers were hauled up from buses near the fringes of Babusar Pass and brutally murdered after their identification. From all the signs it appears to be killing on sectarian grounds. The scourge of sectarianism in the multi-religious society of Gilgit-Baltistan is eroding the social and moral fabric of society. Without the moral…
Posts published in “Day: August 18, 2012”
Yesterday’s chilling target killing of 25 Shias in the Babusar area of the Mansehra district left the nation stunned. Identified by ID cards after they were dragged off their bus, the travellers were shot at point blank range. The attack was claimed by the Terhreek-i-Taliban Pakistan, the same day as it claimed responsibility for the Kamra airbase attack. The same day, three men from the Hazara community were shot dead, travelling back from their place…
Thursday’s execution-style killing of Shia citizens in Mansehra district and the killing of Hazaras in Quetta were only the latest incidents in what is now a clear trend: targeting innocent members of the sect — not necessarily members of any political or religious organisation — and killing them for no reason other than their religious affiliation. The Mansehra attack had a particularly disturbing aspect to it, with passengers made to show their identity papers and…
Thursday morning’s brutal sectarian massacre of 22 passengers travelling through the Babusar Top area of Mansehra district was a bloody iteration of a chilling pattern of attacks against religious minorities, including members of Muslim minority sects. In the early hours of the morning, terrorists ambushed four buses, hauled off passengers, checked their national identity cards and summarily executed the Shias. A spokesman for the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan claimed responsibility for the killings. While there was legitimate…
SKARDU: A second day of complete shutter-down was observed in certain areas of Gilgit-Baltistan, with demonstrations and rallies being held in different areas in protest of the killing of 25 people by terrorists, Express News reported on Friday. Following protests and a call by Shia clerics of Anjuman-e-Imamia Baltistan against the delay in the arrest of the perpetrators, the local government also announced three days of mourning, with educational institutions and offices being closed for…
By Umer Nangiana in The Express Tribune, Aug 18 MANSEHRA / ISLAMABAD: Interior Minister Rehman Malik announced on Friday that a sum of Rs100 million has been allocated for the security of the Karakoram Highway (KKH) a day after 19 Shia passengers were mowed down by masked men near Babusar Top in Kaghan Valley. The minister, condemning Thursday’s killing of Shias in Babusar Top Pass, insisted that the main routes along the Karakoram Highway were…