Thousands march for mass burial in Quetta
* Authorities relax curfew to facilitate funeral rites
By Azizullah Khan
QUETTA: Tens of thousands of Shias marched here on Thursday as funerals were held for 36 mourners killed in an attack on an Ashura procession on Tuesday.
Thirty-three bodies were buried in the Bahisht-i-Zehra graveyard while three in the Hazara town graveyard on Brewery Road. The authorities had relaxed curfew restrictions to facilitate the burial. Allama Yaqub Ali Tawassali led the collective funeral prayers. Curfew restrictions were also relaxed in Quetta suburbs from 9:00am to 5:00pm while the downtown areas up to Jinnah Road remained under strict curfew. Government offices outside curfew limits were open.
Shia leaders had earlier delayed the funerals, demanding the resignation of the provincial police chief and other officials for failing to prevent the attack despite heavy nationwide security. After the burials, people came back to the imambargah where Shia leaders addressed them and announced three days of mourning. They also said they would continue protesting till their demands were accepted. Hazara Democratic Party Chairman Jawad Eisar said his party would meet with the Hazara community, local residents and other political parties to make a policy for controlling such incidents in the city. He said his community was worried because the government had done nothing after the Shia community was twice attacked before
Witnesses said about 20,000 people took part in the funeral processions, chanting anti-government slogans. “Down with incompetent administration! Down with the provincial government,” the marchers shouted. “We salute those who laid down their lives,” cleric Jan Ali Shah Kazmi said, adding that those killed died not just in shooting by “terrorists” but also in police gunfire. “We demand the immediate arrest of policemen responsible for shooting innocent people,” he said. “We also want the curfew lifted in Shia neighbourhoods.”
The authorities had imposed a day-long curfew in the city of 400,000 people after Shias ran riot, burning shops and vehicles following Tuesday’s massacre. Ouetta streets have been deserted except for army patrols under a curfew imposed since Tuesday.
Investigators are still trying to clarify the sequence of events and exactly how many attackers were involved. A senior police investigator said between two and five men sprayed bullets and hurled grenades into the Ashura procession and then blew themselves up.