Shutter-down Strike Disrupts Life In Pakistani City

Islamabad, July 17, IRNA - A shutter-down strike, called to condemn the killing of four members of the Hazara community, disrupted life in the violence-hit southwestern Pakistani city of Quetta on Tuesday, residents said. The Hazara Democratic Party and other Shiite groups had called for the strike as they observed mourning day. Gunmen in a car opened fire on a car Monday evening, killing four men of the Hazara Shia community and injuring two others. Meanwhile, a heavy contingent of police and the paramilitary Frontier Corps (FC) personnel were deployed in various parts of the city to avoid the occurrence of another untoward incident in Quetta, the provincial capital of Balochistan. No group claimed responsibility for the attack. The banned Lashkar-i-Jhangvi routinely claims responsibility for stacks on Shia Muslims. It was the second attack on Hazaras in two weeks. A deadly suicide bombing killed 30 Hazaras in an attack in Quetta earlier this month. Leaders of the HDP and Shiite groups condemned the wave of target killings and regretted that the law enforcement agencies have failed to break the militants network. Tahir Khan Hazara, a leader of the HDP, told a news conference that the banned groups claim responsibility for the attacks but the government cannot trace these elements. He appealed to the UN and international rights group to take note of the massacre of the members of the Hazara community in Quetta./end