HRCP condemns Mastung killings, demands justice

The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) has strongly condemned the murder of at least 21 passengers of two Karachi-bound buses in Mastung district on Friday and demanded that the killers should be brought to justice and road travel is made secure from such wanton acts of violence.

In a statement on Saturday, the commission said: “HRCP strongly condemns the horrible act of terrorism in Mastung on Friday night, where at least 21 people were abducted and killed after being forced out of two Karachi-bound buses.

HRCP also denounces the overall lack of security and general lawlessness where the killers seem to have little problem in acquiring sophisticated weapons and uniform of security forces to facilitate their killing sprees, especially against bus passengers. Unlike the merely reactive measures on display since Friday night, the disturbing trend of attacks on bus passengers, often by culprits in security forces uniforms, need to be confronted by identifying and bringing to justice the groups involved.

There have been hints that the victims might have been targeted because of their ethnic identity. It would be exceedingly unfortunate if that turns out to be the case.

One cannot agree more with the authorities’ contention that such attacks are a conspiracy against peace in the country.