Sir: Some days ago, Wahhabi terrorists boarded a bus and brutally killed eight labourers from the Hazara community in the Hazarganji area of Quetta, while they were loading their vegetables in a bus to return to Hazara Town. After a period of almost nine months the terrorists once again have launched their attacks on innocent Shia Hazaras in Balochistan. On the eve of 2014 the terrorists attacked a bus carrying pilgrims using a remote control bomb in the Ghanja Dhori area of Mastung. As a result more than 20 people died and scores more were injured. In this period of nine months two significant events took place. Those keeping a close eye on the situation in Balochistan may endorse these claims. The first event was that after some time the Corps Commander of Balochistan visited the Hazara graveyard and offered prayers for those martyred in the attacks. This move sent a positive message to the oppressed community and they breathed a sigh of relief thinking that they may not suffer such brutality again. The second event may have gone largely unnoticed. A majority of the Hazaras remain in the illusion that peace has prevailed as no similarly major violent incident has happened except for the killing of two scouts who were on their way to Hazara Town. However, in reality the terrorists have resorted to a tactical change in their strategy and they shifted their campaign of violence from Shia Hazaras to the Zikri Baloch of Makran. During the course of this time two major attacks on the Zikri Baloch took place in Panjgur — the hometown of Balochistan Chief Minister Dr Abdul Malik Baloch. The terrorists conducted two attacks, first on the place of worship of the Zikris in which two individuals died and several others were injured. The second attack on the Zikris claimed six lives. These incidents hardly secured media attention mainly due to the inaccessibility for media persons to this remote and volatile area. The responsibility for these two attacks was taken by a religious organisation called Tanzimul Furqan. This organisation has also claimed responsibility for a number of acid attacks on women, in addition to destroying girls’ schools and extending death threats to those teachers who showed some resistance and continued to teach girls. In the wake of their nefarious activities the notables of the area joined hands against the perpetrators and conveyed a strong message about responding in the same coin if the said organisation did not stop their malicious campaign of destroying Baloch society with religious extremism. A week before the Hazarganji incident, ten Punjabi labourers were kidnapped from a poultry farm in Sakran area of District Lasbela and hours later the dead bodies of the labourers were found in the surrounding mountains. That incident created a considerable hue and cry in local as well as international media. A separatist organisation claimed the responsibility for that incident. State law enforcement agencies arrested the perpetrators of that incident on the very next day. However, the same state law enforcement agencies keep mum over the killings of Shia Hazaras. What should we as citizens of Pakistan discern from such dualism in the behaviour of the state towards its people? Why have they forsaken these innocent Hazaras just because they are non-combatants and wish to remain so? ZUBAIR ALI Quetta