HDP oppose army in Quetta

[Devil Soul]

Hazaras oppose army in Quetta
By: Bari Baloch | February 24, 2013
QUETTA – Hazara Democratic Party (HDP) has opposed handing over Quetta to army while condemning another Shia representative organisation over ‘playing politics over the dead bodies of Hazara youth’ and demanded that the head of the banned Lashkar-e-Jhangvi be put on trial.

Addressing a press conference Saturday, Hazara Democratic Party Chairman Abdul Khaliq Hazara said the policymakers of the county have stained Pakistan’s land with bloodshed for the pursuance of the interests of Iran and Saudi Arabia.

He termed handing provincial capital Quetta’s control to the army ‘illegal’, saying extremist Shia group Jamaat Majlis Wahadatul Muslimun should stop playing politics over the bodies of Hazara people. He demanded immediate trial of Malik Ishaq.

The HDP leader said Quetta had always been an abode of peace and the tribes residing in the city had always exhibited religious tolerance and mutual respect. “But for the last decade efforts were made to stoke sectarian violence in Balochistan generally and in Quetta particularly which has sabotaged the centuries old mutual respect among different religious sects and ethnicities.”

Abdul Khaliq said that the policymakers were busy in accomplishing the interests of Iran and Saudia Arabia and despite the enormous loss to the very foundations of the country the short-sightedness of the ruling class remains unchanged. He said that the groups involved in sectarian violence had outer patronage, adding that genocide of Hazara people had been carried out for the last 13 years.

“Atrocities meted out to the Hazara community have broken all the records” however the Hazara people had still exhibited tolerance and had protested in democratic way, he said. He termed the protests of the Hazara community following bombings of January 10 and February 18 as a precedent for the entire world.

The HDP leader said his party had never demanded handing over of Quetta to army, saying a political party cannot take such a myopic decision. “Targeted operation should be carried out with honesty of purpose which any security agency can do,” he stressed. He said extremists disguised as guests had also sabotaged the Hazara interests, adding use of derogatory words against ulema and issuing wrong statements about sit-in spoke volumes about their minds.

“We have always been demanding arrest of all those involved in any act of sectarian violence, irrespective of their party affiliation... Ishaq must be brought to justice and punished for involvement in violence,” Abdul Khaliq demanded.

Officials said earlier this week that security forces had killed four men and detained more than 170 alleged suspects. LJ emerged as a spin-off from mujahideen groups which were funded by the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and backed by the Pakistani intelligence services during the 1980s war against Soviet troops in neighbouring Afghanistan.

Ishaq, who has been arrested before, was released by a court on bail in July 2011, even though he has been implicated in dozens of murders. He was detained briefly in 2012 for inciting sectarian hatred and has also been accused of masterminding the 2009 attack on the Sri Lankan cricket team in Lahore, which wounded several players and killed eight Pakistanis.

His latest arrest –which came a day after the Pakistan Army denied any links to LeJ – should not be an ‘eye wash’, said Sajid Naqvi, another Shia leader. “We demand his trial and the authorities should provide protection to witnesses who would like to appear in the court,” he said.

Shias, who make up around 20 per cent of the population of 180 million, are facing record numbers of attacks, raising serious questions about security as Pakistan prepares to hold elections by mid-May. The February 16 bomb attack in Quetta killed 89 people, while 92 people were killed in an attack at a Hazara snooker hall on January 10.

Protesters poured onto the streets following the latest bombing and shut down parts of Karachi, Lahore and Islamabad, demanding better protection for Shias and lashing out at the government for failing to catch the perpetrators.

 

[Safriz]

Money is speaking,not Hazara People.

 

[mdcp]

Why not trial for hamid mosivi, sajid naqvi etc also.
Current fc commander in quetta is shia and killing innocent sunnia and achieving objectives of shia so thats why they opposing army

Plz dont forget the role of qarar regment(mostly shias) what they did in lal masjid

 

[Srinivas]

Money is speaking,not Hazara People.

Hazaras are feeling insecure with PA presence in Quetta. The demand also helps PA since right now PA is stretched because it has to take care of Eastern border, Tribal areas because of WOT,Karachi and not Governor rule in Balouchistan.

Hazaras demanded army protection right after Quetta blasts that happened last time but they are becoming suspicious about the presence of PA.

 

[TaimiKhan]

Hazaras are feeling insecure with PA presence in Quetta. The demand also helps PA since right now PA is stretched because it has to take care of Eastern border, Tribal areas because of WOT,Karachi and not Governor rule in Balouchistan.

Hazaras demanded army protection right after Quetta blasts that happened last time but they are becoming suspicious about the presence of PA.

If you Indians don't know about something, then kindly don't open your mouths.

Army presence if you do know how military works is limited to Cantonments and deployment outside is done when required and in severe cases of emergency. So, quetta has army presence restricted to cantonment area and outside is police and para-miitary units which look after things.

And even if army is required in quetta, it won't have to deploy a large number of troops and thus operational capability of army won't be affected.

Plus, its the job of the police and para-military forces to look after the security situation, if they fail, then govt can deploy the army to help these para-military units.

 

[somebozo]

Money is speaking,not Hazara People.

He nailed it right

Addressing a press conference Saturday, Hazara Democratic Party Chairman Abdul Khaliq Hazara said the policymakers of the county have stained Pakistan’s land with bloodshed for the pursuance of the interests of Iran and Saudi Arabia.

Why not trial for hamid mosivi, sajid naqvi etc also.
Current fc commander in quetta is shia and killing innocent sunnia and achieving objectives of shia so thats why they opposing army

Plz dont forget the role of qarar regment(mostly shias) what they did in lal masjid

FC is only doing its job and its a sad fact that most of the terrorist outfits in KP are sunni extremists.
What happened in Lal Masjid was elimination of terrorist nothing else.

lets not play sectarianism with our national security!

Hazaras are feeling insecure with PA presence in Quetta. The demand also helps PA since right now PA is stretched because it has to take care of Eastern border, Tribal areas because of WOT,Karachi and not Governor rule in Balouchistan.

Hazaras demanded army protection right after Quetta blasts that happened last time but they are becoming suspicious about the presence of PA.

The most important thing for Hazara's right now is security of life and liberty.
Either by Army or by civilian governor doesnt matter. What we are seeing is politics between two shia political parties.

What we need in Pakistan is ban on all religio-political parties and move toward a 2 or 3 party system!
Religion + Politics = disaster!

It is no secret that there are many hardcore LeJ, SSP and Jamat sympathizers in the higher ranks of military and after the purges of Mushraff these people have switched loyalty towards extremist organisations!

 

[Srinivas]

If you Indians don't know about something, then kindly don't open your mouths.

Army presence if you do know how military works is limited to Cantonments and deployment outside is done when required and in severe cases of emergency. So, quetta has army presence restricted to cantonment area and outside is police and para-miitary units which look after things.

And even if army is required in quetta, it won't have to deploy a large number of troops and thus operational capability of army won't be affected.

Plus, its the job of the police and para-military forces to look after the security situation, if they fail, then govt can deploy the army to help these para-military units.

I do know how a Military regime works and right now Baluchistan is in Military rule, Military rule will definitely stretch PA, There are jobs which Civilian Govt. has to do and are complex like Governing local bodies, if military establishment is used for this purpose and some of PA personnel are deployed for that it will put extra burden.

Why Hazaras are opposing Military rule??

The main reason is when Army rules they won't take any inputs from civilians and in majority of the cases, plus there is a danger of terrorist sympathizers in PA. This leads to military monopoly on Hazaras and so they rightly opposed PA in Quetta.

Military may have confined to Barracks or Cantonments but every decision to Govern will be taken by them and Lot of decisions will be taken with out the consent of civilians who are becoming victims(especially minorities). Hazaras wanted protection from PA when Bomb blasts first happened and the recent developments have induced some sense of insecurity in that community which cannot be denied.

 

[jaibi]

I do know how a Military regime works and right now Baluchistan is in Military rule, Military rule will definitely stretch PA, There are jobs which Civilian Govt. has to do and are complex like Governing local bodies, if military establishment is used for this purpose and some of PA personnel are deployed for that it will put extra burden.

Why Hazaras are opposing Military rule??

The main reason is when Army rules they won't take any inputs from civilians and in majority of the cases, plus there is a danger of terrorist sympathizers in PA. This leads to military monopoly on Hazaras and so they rightly opposed PA in Quetta.

Military may have confined to Barracks or Cantonments but every decision to Govern will be taken by them and Lot of decisions will be taken with out the consent of civilians who are becoming victims(especially minorities). Hazaras wanted protection from PA when Bomb blasts first happened and the recent developments have induced some sense of insecurity in that community which cannot be denied.

I disagree with you, sir. I talked to Mr Ali Qizalbash in Lahore (a youth Shia activist who helped organise the recent protest in Lahore) he said that the Army is a temporary solution and once the army returns to its barracks they'd be in danger again. He pointed out that many Balochis are racists against the Hazara ethnicity (not just because they're Shia) and hold a grudge for losing their CM, especially the landlords in Balochistan. He said that the army operation should go ahead but not the military governance as once it goes there'd be a backlash.

I see the wisdom here. A better solution would be to install a potent security council of some sort or a special police branch that would ensure that the security issue are dealt with and it'd be wiser to include the people of Balochistan in this plan.

 

[Srinivas]

I disagree with you, sir. I talked to Mr Ali Qizalbash in Lahore (a youth Shia activist who helped organise the recent protest in Lahore) he said that the Army is a temporary solution and once the army returns to its barracks they'd be in danger again. He pointed out that many Balochis are racists against the Hazara ethnicity (not just because they're Shia) and hold a grudge for losing their CM, especially the landlords in Balochistan. He said that the army operation should go ahead but not the military governance as once it goes there'd be a backlash.

I see the wisdom here. A better solution would be to install a potent security council of some sort or a special police branch that would ensure that the security issue are dealt with and it'd be wiser to include the people of Balochistan in this plan.

I agree with on the bolded part, One of the solution should be appoint Hazara officers in those areas to give that community a confidence boost.

 

[TaimiKhan]

I do know a Military regime works and right now Baluchistan is in Military rule, Military rule will definitely stretch PA, There are jobs which Civilian Govt. has to do and are complex like Governing local bodies, if military establishment is used for this purpose and some of PA personnel are deployed for that it will put extra burden.

Why Hazaras are opposing Military rule??

The main reason is when Army rules they won't take any inputs from civilians and in majority of the cases, plus there is a danger of terrorist sympathizers in PA. This leads to military monopoly on Hazaras and so they rightly opposed PA oin Quetta.

Military may have confined to Barracks or Cantonments but every decision to Govern will be taken by them and Lot of decisions will be taken with out the consent of civilians who are becoming victims(especially minorities). Hazaras wanted protection from PA when Bomb blasts first happened and the recent developments have induced some sense of insecurity in that community which cannot be denied.

No, you have no idea how military works. And Baluchistan has no military rule nor is military running any affairs. Everything related to law & order is in hands of police and para-military forces.

And i did clear that any kind of deployment if required would have no operational bearing on the military preparedness as quetta and baluchistan has already military units which are living in cantonments and restricted. Thus incase an order is given, the already deployed formations during peace times would be used, nothing will be brought in from other areas. Baluchistan has nearly 1 full corps deployed as per peace time plans. They are only moved incase something happens with India otherwise they remain stationed in the province in the already designated cantonments areas. So i don't see how you can claim what you are claiming.

And the demand is for to use the military for security purposes in collaboration with civilian LEAs. They are not being asked to take over the jobs of other departments. And even when martial law would come into force, military used the already in place and working civilian departments to carry out the day to day work without any chaos or taking over the jobs of civilians.

Plus, do remember the people asking for army protection is a different set of people within the same community and the ones not asking for some obvious reasons are also a bunch of people in the same community. So 2 sets of people asking different demands in the same community does not tells that all the 100% people of the community asking for protection or refusing. Hope you can read above that here the HDP is saying this thing, while other organizations of this community have been asking something else.

And as for your last para, as i earlier said its obvious you have no idea how military works. Currently civilian setup is in place, till they don't ask army to come out, its not upto the army to take things into their own hands and if someone in the community resents that, its obviously due to lack of how things are run.

And as for your accusation of PA having sympathizers, you Indians forget to remember that PA & other branches of armed forces are composed of soldiers from every religion/sects no matter how many, and they have been fighting for the country and laying their lives. If that is your Indian definition, then i guess we Pakistanis are right in saying that Muslims in India should be concerned since Col Prohit kind of sympathizers pose a danger to the people who are in minority in India.

(No need for the Indians to drag in BS over my comments related to the terrorist IA officer, as it was for understanding purposes for the gentleman above who seems so concerned for issues which has no idea)

I disagree with you, sir. I talked to Mr Ali Qizalbash in Lahore (a youth Shia activist who helped organise the recent protest in Lahore) he said that the Army is a temporary solution and once the army returns to its barracks they'd be in danger again. He pointed out that many Balochis are racists against the Hazara ethnicity (not just because they're Shia) and hold a grudge for losing their CM, especially the landlords in Balochistan. He said that the army operation should go ahead but not the military governance as once it goes there'd be a backlash.

I see the wisdom here. A better solution would be to install a potent security council of some sort or a special police branch that would ensure that the security issue are dealt with and it'd be wiser to include the people of Balochistan in this plan.

The only effective way to control this thing is all concerned LEAs & intel agencies working together and seek out such groups and eliminate them. A single police force or security force is not the solution. It will need a combined effort from all the agencies involved.

Plus, we also as a nation need the will, to go after these people spread in the whole country and eliminate them from the grass root level.

 

[jaibi]

I agree with on the bolded part, One of the solution should be appoint Hazara officers in those areas to give that community a confidence boost.

My point exactly, the Shia community here (to which I'm related too) resonated that they want to live here (wherever they're settled be it Lahore or Quetta) and wish for safety a Security Council with the support of other armed forces and executive members from Balochistan (including Hazars in key positions) would increase ethnic cohesion and security of the region.

 

[KRAIT]

@TaimiKhan Sir, what well be course of action ?

How long do you think it might take to normalize the situation according to that course ?

 

[TaimiKhan]

@TaimiKhan Sir, what well be course of action ?

How long do you think it might take to normalize the situation according to that course ?

As said, if we can make a national will and go after these people as one, things might turn around in few months time period. These people have a breathing space, take it away from them, they wont create problems.

This thing requires a lot of national, political will or else such incidents will keep happening. We need to eliminate them all together.

 

[Srinivas]

No you are mistaken about my understanding of Military rule. Governing is a complicated one and politician is a different breed when compared to security establishment officer. One of the reason Pakistani Govt. is moving to remove the Governor rule from Baluchistan.

The immediate blame after bomb blasts was on LEJ which is an organization funded by CIA networks and also some support from PA(also cited in the above article).

In my view the concerns addressed by the Hazara political leader(irrespective of the support he is getting) needs to be addressed. As these are the guys who are publicizing the events.

Regarding Col. Purohit, time and again India investigative agencies proved that they donot discriminate when dealing with terror, Malegaon blast case and Mecca masjid blast cases are examples .

No, you have no idea how military works. And Baluchistan has no military rule nor is military running any affairs. Everything related to law & order is in hands of police and para-military forces.

And i did clear that any kind of deployment if required would have no operational bearing on the military preparedness as quetta and baluchistan has already military units which are living in cantonments and restricted. Thus incase an order is given, the already deployed formations during peace times would be used, nothing will be brought in from other areas. Baluchistan has nearly 1 full corps deployed as per peace time plans. They are only moved incase something happens with India otherwise they remain stationed in the province in the already designated cantonments areas. So i don't see how you can claim what you are claiming.

And the demand is for to use the military for security purposes in collaboration with civilian LEAs. They are not being asked to take over the jobs of other departments. And even when martial law would come into force, military used the already in place and working civilian departments to carry out the day to day work without any chaos or taking over the jobs of civilians.

Plus, do remember the people asking for army protection is a different set of people within the same community and the ones not asking for some obvious reasons are also a bunch of people in the same community. So 2 sets of people asking different demands in the same community does not tells that all the 100% people of the community asking for protection or refusing. Hope you can read above that here the HDP is saying this thing, while other organizations of this community have been asking something else.

And as for your last para, as i earlier said its obvious you have no idea how military works. Currently civilian setup is in place, till they don't ask army to come out, its not upto the army to take things into their own hands and if someone in the community resents that, its obviously due to lack of how things are run.

And as for your accusation of PA having sympathizers, you Indians forget to remember that PA & other branches of armed forces are composed of soldiers from every religion/sects no matter how many, and they have been fighting for the country and laying their lives. If that is your Indian definition, then i guess we Pakistanis are right in saying that Muslims in India should be concerned since Col Prohit kind of sympathizers pose a danger to the people who are in minority in India.

(No need for the Indians to drag in BS over my comments related to the terrorist IA officer, as it was for understanding purposes for the gentleman above who seems so concerned for issues which has no idea)



The only effective way to control this thing is all concerned LEAs & intel agencies working together and seek out such groups and eliminate them. A single police force or security force is not the solution. It will need a combined effort from all the agencies involved.

Plus, we also as a nation need the will, to go after these people spread in the whole country and eliminate them from the grass root level.

 

[somebozo]

I disagree with you, sir. I talked to Mr Ali Qizalbash in Lahore (a youth Shia activist who helped organise the recent protest in Lahore) he said that the Army is a temporary solution and once the army returns to its barracks they'd be in danger again. He pointed out that many Balochis are racists against the Hazara ethnicity (not just because they're Shia) and hold a grudge for losing their CM, especially the landlords in Balochistan. He said that the army operation should go ahead but not the military governance as once it goes there'd be a backlash.

I see the wisdom here. A better solution would be to install a potent security council of some sort or a special police branch that would ensure that the security issue are dealt with and it'd be wiser to include the people of Balochistan in this plan.

This is why I said this is an ethinic clash being waged by religious proxy of fundos. The real fault line lies between the Baluch seeing Hazara's as illegal settlers!