Rights Watch | 9th January 2021

Commuters in Karachi on Friday clashed with rally-goers protesting against target killing of Hazara Shia coal miners in Balochistan last week. For more news on the human rights situation in Pakistan, check out Rights Watch.

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Rights Watch

Commuters clash with Shia protesters in Karachi

Commuters on Friday, January 8, clashed with protesters and set fire to six motorbikes at the Natha Khan bridge in Karachi’s Shah Faisal Colony. Demonstrators were staging sit-ins against the targeted killing of eleven Hazara Shia coal miners in Machh, Balochistan last week. Roads remained congested, severely disrupting life in the metropolitan for the past four days.

Police were able to contain Friday’s situation and extinguish the fires. No casualties have been reported as a result of mass protests occuring in some 30 parts of the city.

Hazara protesters end sit-in on seventh day

Mourners at the Western Bypass area in Balochistan finally buried all slain Hazara coal miners in Hazara Town Balochistan this Saturday morning, ending nearly a week-long protest against sectarian violence and targeted killing of the ethnic minority community by Sunni-Deobandi terrorists.

The protesters announced an end to their sit-in after assurances that their demands have been met by Chief Minister of Balochistan Jam Mir Kamal Khan Alyani, Deputy Speaker of the National Assembly Qasim Suri, Special Assistant to the Prime Minister (SAPM) on Overseas Pakistanis Zulfiqar Bukhari, and Federal Minister for Maritime Affairs Ali Zaidi.

Prime Minister Imran Khan is expected to meet mourners today.

Youth killed in Karachi ‘encounter’ found innocent

A B.Com. student who had been killed during a shootout between police and alleged robbers in Karachi’s SITE area on January 3 was found innocent in a police inquiry into the incident.

Sultan Nazeer was returning home via a Bykea ride from a funeral when police opened fire upon them at the Habib Bank Chowk in the SITE area. The driver was able to flee however Nazeer was killed on the spot. One of the two cops, constable Jahangir, was allegedly injured in the ‘encounter’.

Constable Jahangir and constable Shabbir Ahmed were booked under section 302 of the Pakistan Penal Code (punishment for intended murder) and section 7 of the Anti-Terrorism Act (7-ATA) at the SITA A Section police station, and detained for interrogation.

Nazeer who was a boy scout was laid to rest in his hometown in Hunza.