Editor in Chief: Moh. Reza Huwaida Friday, March 29th, 2024

Develop Plan to Protect Shia Minority, HRW Asks Govt

Develop Plan to Protect Shia Minority, HRW Asks Govt

KABUL - Amidst rising insurgent attacks, Human Rights Watch (HRW) on Tuesday asked the Ashraf Ghani administration to develop a security plan to better protect the minority Shia sect during high-profile public events.
A day earlier, a suicide bomber from the Islamic State group killed at least 32 worshippers, including children, and injured 50 othersat a Shia mosque in Kabul during observance of a religious ceremony.
“ISIS has stepped up its horrific and unlawful attacks on Shia public gatherings, making no place safe,” Patricia Gossman, senior Afghanistan researcher at HRW, said in a statement from the global rights watchdog.
“The government, Shia leadersand civil society groups should work together to develop appropriate ways to improve security during vulnerable public and religious gatherings so that Shia community members can exercise their basic rights.”
ISIS said they carried out two attacks during the Shia ceremony of Ashura on October 11in Kabuland on October 12in the northern province of Balkh, that altogether killed at least 32 people.
The group also claimed a July 23 attack against a demonstration by mainly Hazara Shias in Kabul, killing at least 85 and injuring 413, the deadliest attack in Afghanistan on civilians since 2002.
HRW noted the security environment was worsening for all Afghans in the face of an intensifying insurgency, claiming civilian casualties as fighting increasingly happened in densely populated areas,
“However, the wave of targeted attacks on Shia Hazaras is largely attributable to the emergence of insurgent groups affiliated with ISIS, underscoring the increasing vulnerability of the Shia community beyond active battlefields and in urban areas under government control.”
It added the plight of Hazara Shias in neighbouring Pakistan highlighted the dangers of unhindered escalation of sectarian violence, HRW said. Pakistan’s besieged Hazara communities have faced mass attacks by Lashkar-i-Jhangvi for more than a decade.
“Insurgents who are responsible for atrocities targeting a specific ethnic or religious community as part of an attack on a civilian population are committing crimes against humanity,” Gossman said. (Pajhwok)