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India-Pakistan
Time for Shias to leave Pakistan
2013-02-18
[Dawn] It is a massacre alright. Sunni Death Eaters, aligned with Al-Qaeda and the Taliban, are killing Shias by the dozens in Pakistain.

I was yet to compile the list of the 106 (mostly Shias) killed in the twin kabooms in Quetta last month, that the news of another kaboom killing yet another 84 (mostly Shias) in Quetta came over the wire. As the Shia massacres in Pakistain gain momentum, the State, including the Superior Courts, appear completely impotent.

In such troubling times some Shias may have a choice. They may sit and wait for a messiah or relocate to a Shia-exclusive enclave elsewhere, or to escape from Pakistain altogether. It may sound harsh, but it is an inescapable truth that Pakistain has been run over by the faceless myrmidons and life is going to be even tougher for the minorities and moderate Sunnis in the near future.

In the two consecutive months this year, kabooms have killed hundreds of Shia Hazaras in Quetta, a Garrison town where each and every street is manned by intelligence operatives. Still, the Islamic fascisti operate with impunity. Saturday's kaboom, which has killed over 80 and injured hundreds, occurred almost within a month of the last kaboom that delivered even a higher corpse count.

Space is fast running out in Shia graveyards in Quetta. It may be the time for Shias to relocate to protect their next generation.
At a certain point fighting for one's rights is hopeless, and it's time to work on making sure one's children survive...elsewhere. Unless something turns Pakistan off its current path, it's going to worsen until the very purest one is the only one left in the smoking rubble.
Many naively believe that peace will prevail in Pakistain and Afghanistan after the scheduled withdrawal of NATO
...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. Originally it was a mutual defense pact directed against an expansionist Soviet Union. In later years it evolved into a mechanism for picking the American pocket while criticizing the cut of the American pants...
troops from Afghanistan in 2014. While I vehemently oppose prolonging the stay of the NATO forces in the region, still I believe this would spell even a bigger disaster for the minorities in Pakistain. The battle-hardened veterans of the Afghan war will return to Pakistain to target Shias, Ahmadis, and other religious minorities. Even Barelvis may not escape the wrath of the mostly Deobandi-led militancy.
Posted by:Fred

#7  The Hazaras are once again demanding Pak Govt-Army protection + arrest of Sunni perpetrators while also refusing to bury the bodies of their dead until Islamabad agrees, + Perps caught, punished.

* DEFENCE FORUM INDIA > GENOCIDE OF PAKISTAN'S HAZARA COMMUNITY.

China is Pakistan's BFF, which IMO means that IRan will likely demand that China pressure Pakistan to stop the anti-Shia violence. Iran is also likely to attempt to bring Russia on board - IFF PAKISTAN CANNOT OR WILL NOT STOP THE ANTI-SHIA VIOLENCE, THEN IRAN IS LIKELY TO USE RUSSIA AS A HEDGE/OFFSET AGZ CHINA IN CASE IRAN HAS TO SEND IN ITS ARMY + IRGC INTO PAKISTAN TO QUELL THINGS.

I don't see Rising Iran accepting any option where Pak Shias will be asked or made by Islamabad to up-n-leave Pakistan.
Posted by: JosephMendiola   2013-02-18 23:07  

#6  Iran like other countries is interested in either reclaiming lost territories, or in alternate dev very close diplomatic + trade ties wid same.

IIRC Pakistan's Shias comprise roughly 1/4 of the country's population, + have been there for generations since before the separation/
partition of Muslim Pakistan from Hindu India. IMO its highly unlikely that the bulk of Pakistan's Shia comunity will just up-n-move widout a fight.

That leaves Iran-led external pressure + ultimately possible mil intervention, ostensibly to enforce the unliteral or bilateral protection of Pakistan's Shias from local Sunnis, but perhaps more realistically to ensure Iranian control or domination of Pakistan's LR Nuclear Arsenal.

DETERRING OR DEFEATING A US GROUND WAR AGZ IRAN = IRAN NEEDING TO KEEP USN NUCLEAR CARRIERS + AMPHIBS OUT OF THE PERSIAN GULF AMAP AFAP ALAP = IRAN NEEDS PAK SHIAS TO STAY, NOT LEAVE.
Posted by: JosephMendiola   2013-02-18 22:26  

#5  
And go where?


Just head south. Keep going south. Until they can't go south anymore.

I figure that's probably a few hundred feet into the Indian Ocean, for most of them.
Posted by: Rob Crawford   2013-02-18 14:46  

#4  Iran is more likely to attack Iraq first than Pakistan. No nukes, large Shia population, tensions already high, and invading the kurd area's would help stop the resistance in their NW border.
Posted by: Charles   2013-02-18 09:13  

#3  Iran doesn't care about Pakistani Hazaras - not all Shia are created equal. Besides, until their nukes are ready, they dare not attack Pakistan anyway. Without nukes, I'd happily sell programs and popcorn, but.....
Posted by: Glenmore   2013-02-18 07:59  

#2  And go where?
Posted by: Redneck Jim   2013-02-18 04:59  

#1  Iff Islamabad can't control or eliminate the violence, either the poor Shias move or else Iran invades.
Posted by: JosephMendiola   2013-02-18 00:21  

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