Young Bilal Noorzai was beaten to death and two other men Niaz Muhammad and Kareem were critically injured in the mob attack which took place over a monetary dispute. The prime accused, Jawad, is the owner of a barber shop. He led the violent mob comprising 400-500 men and attacked three Pashtun men with knife, steel rode, glasses and sticks and striped them naked.
One of the wounded men Niaz Muhammad told Naya Daur that he along with his business partners Kareem and the slain youngster Bilal khan Noorzai had come to Hazara Town to collect the remaining amount of 420000 after a car deal that they had with the accused. “Jawad made us wait at his barber shop and called his friends to help him in the assault, falsely accusing us of making videos of Hazara women.”
Police has so for recovered the car and arrested more than 13 attackers including prime accused Jawad and his four friends who were nominated in the first information report (FIR). Station House Officer (SHO) Izhat Ullah as well as others Police constables have also been suspended over negligence, and for not arresting the culprits on the spot. They were seen facilitating the accused in fleeing the crime scene.
Sectarian hate in wake of the incident
Following the incident, social media was abuzz with hateful posts from both sides where users were promoting sectarianism and ethnic hatred. Some geenralised the Hazara community as evil and others accused the Pashtun community of playing the victim card.
However, poltical parties and groups of KP Awami National Party (ANP), Pashtunkhwa Mili Awami (PKMAP) and Pashtun Tahaffuz Movement (PTM) leadership and party supporter playing a positive role and mitigated the sectarian and ethnic clash. All of them have demanded justice for the victims and refrained from playing politics over the incident.
Father of the slain Pashtun youth also requested the residents of Quetta to avoid spreading sectarian or ethnic hatred using his son’s murder.