Sectarian violence: Attack on bus in Kohistan leaves 18 dead
By AFP / Web Desk / Reuters
Published: February 28, 2012
PESHAWAR: At least 18 people were killed Tuesday when gunmen opened fire on a bus on Karakoram Highway in the Kohistan district of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, police said.
The bus, owned by Mashaburum private bus service, was en route to Gilgit from Rawalpindi with 39 passengers on board.
Seven armed men, who are suspected to be members of a banned outfit, stopped two buses and a coaster. The armed men were reported to be in Army uniform. They asked the passengers to get off the bus and shot them after checking their CNICs.
An extremist group, formed after a recent killing of a man in Gilgit, is suspected to be involved in the massacre. The killing was followed a massive protest in Chilas and blockade of Karakoram Highway for four days. “All the people on board were Shia, and at the moment it looks like they were targeted by armed men from the local Sunni community,” a senior police official told Reuters.
“Armed men hiding on both sides of the road attacked the bus,” local police chief Mohammad Ilyas said.
“Initial reports said 18 people have died and eight wounded,” he added.
Police officials said the bus came under attack in an area inhabited by two Sunni tribes about 165 km (102 miles) north of Islamabad.
The ambush happened near the town of Harban Nullah. DCO Chilas confirmed the incident.
The bodies of the deceased have been kept at Shatial hospital.
Interior Minister Rehman Malik has sought an investigative report from the Inspector-General of Gilgit-Baltistan.
Re: Sectarian violence claims 18 lives in Kohistan
People who target and kill innocents are terrorists. The terrorists can call themselves by any name they wish, but they will always be identified by their actions. Pakistanis have been under attack by the terrorists for quite some time, and these terror attacks have increased in the last few days. Our sympathies and condolences go out to the Pakistani nation and the families of the innocent people killed in today’s attack. It is ridiculous to blame any of these attacks on the United States. There is no evidence whatsoever to support this accusation against the U.S. The terrorists are as much our enemy as Pakistan’s. We need to step-up up our cooperation and go full force against these killers. Their attacks without remorse on innocent women and children show how desperate they have become. Isn’t this the time to stop indulging in conspiracy theories and focus on the menace of terrorism? Peace can only prevail if this menace is eliminated once and for all.
Re: Sectarian violence claims 18 lives in Kohistan
Some people justify these acts as retaliation of 2001 US invasion but the fact is that these started to happen way back in 1983 in our country and its still continuing to date.
Re: Sectarian violence claims 18 lives in Kohistan
This madness is going on in Pakistan for ages. I it's really disturbing in the sense that government does not seem to have any clue as to how this trend should be curtailed. :(
Re: Sectarian violence claims 18 lives in Kohistan
someone wrote shias should start carrying weapons with them whereever they go ... cuz obviously the govt and security agencies have miserbly failed to protect a common man, and the irony is we have got Shias running the govt.
Re: Sectarian violence claims 18 lives in Kohistan
Some people justify these acts as retaliation of 2001 US invasion but the fact is that these started to happen way back in 1983 in our country and its still continuing to date.
Sectarian problem has existed for as long as I can remember, it exponentially rose in 80s when 'jihad' was promoted, when petro-dollars were pumped into the country.
**BALTISTAN: Federal Interior Minister Rehman Malik on Saturday urged the importance of dialogue to solve deteriorating law and order situation of Gilgit Baltistan, DawnNews reported.
**The interior minister met with Chief Minister Syed Mehdi Shah, Governor Pir KaramAli Shah and other high officials of newly declared province and received a briefing from Chief of Baltistan scouts Brig Nadeem ul Hassan on the law and order situation of the area.
“The ministry would provide the list of the alleged miscreants to the ‘jirga’ and it would be their responsibility to make sure their arrest,” Malik said.
**He added that if the situation could not be handled through negotiations or jirga’s involvement then the route of military operation could also be opted.
**
Malik was having talks with the high officials of the province after sectarian violence erupted in the region two weeks earlier when 18 Shia passengers were shot dead by gunmen after they had been forced to disembark from buses at Harban Nullah on the Karakoram Highway.
**GILGIT: Interior Minister Rehman Malik Saturday said that foreign hands were involved in the Kohistan bus firing incident.
****Talking to newsmen here after attending a meeting on law and order situation, Malik claimed that those involved in the incident have been identified, adding that the culprits will be brought to justice at all costs.
**“The list of identified persons will be handed over to local Jirgas who will hand over the culprits to the security forces,” he said.
Malik said nobody will be allowed to play with the law and order situation of Gilgit-Baltistan.
He said the number of check posts will be increased in the area to maintain peace.
The minister rejected attribution of the Kohistan incident to sectarianism.
He also announced compensation of two million rupees each for the bereaved families of those killed in firing incident.