Pakistani Shiites demand army protection after bombing that targeted sect, killed 89

On Monday, President Asif Ali Zardari issued a statement saying he has requested that the governor “take all necessary measures for the security of the Hazaras.”

But Hazara leaders say their own calls for greater security have long gone unheeded.

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Protests were held in Karachi and Islamabad on Sunday as angry residents demanded government protection from an onslaught of attacks against Shiite Muslims, a day after 89 people were killed in a bombing in Quetta.

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“There is no will of the government, there are only statements,” Abdul Khaliq Hazara, chairman of the Hazara Democratic Party, said from Quetta on Monday. “We are compelled to ask the government to pursue these terrorists. They have given them free hand; no investigation is going on.”

For decades, Pakistan’s intelligence agencies groomed Sunni extremists to wage attacks against India and to offset any threat by Shiite Iran. In 2001, Pakistan banned Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, but some observers say the militia and its political wing seem to enjoy impunity in targeting Shiites.

“We believe extremism is promoted here,” Hazara said. “We don’t know who gives them shelter, but not a single person has been arrested, not only in these two blasts but in any attacks.”

Syed Khurshid Shah, a senior leader of the ruling Pakistan People’s Party, said that an army deployment in Quetta “would not resolve the issue,” noting that the Frontier Corps and the Rangers, another paramilitary force, are already deployed there.

“The truth is that it is intelligence failure,” he told reporters in Islamabad. “The intelligence system needs to be made efficient so that such terrorist attacks could be prevented in future.”

Thousands of Shiites have fled Quetta because of the violence.

“If this killing is not stopped, those Hazara people who are still here will also be forced to leave their homeland,” said Shabir Hussain, a 49-year-old Shiite at the Islamabad demonstration. “No one can blame them; even the children and women of the Hazara are not spared.”

Also Monday, suicide bombers wearing police uniforms stormed the office of a senior political official in the northwestern city of Peshawar, killing six people, authorities said.

The attack occurred while the political agent, or tribal administrator, for the adjoining Khyber tribal area was presiding over a meeting of different parties discussing a code of conduct for coming national general elections, officials said.

Leiby reported from Kabul. Mohammad Sharif in Kabul and Haq Nawaz Khan in Peshawar, Pakistan, contributed to this report.