HRC: Pakistan must protect Shiite Muslims

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ISLAMABAD, Pakistan, Sept. 6 (UPI) -- The government of Pakistan must crack down on violence aimed at the country's Shiite Islam minority, Human Rights Watch says.

The advocacy group said Wednesday attacks on Shiite communities have increased dramatically, with at least 320 people killed so far in 2012. One hundred people, most of them Hazaras, have been killed in Balochistan, HRC said.

"Deadly attacks on [Shiite] communities across Pakistan are escalating," said Brad Adams, Asia director at Human Rights Watch. "The government's persistent failure to apprehend attackers or prosecute the extremist groups organizing the attacks suggests that it is indifferent to this carnage."

Eight Hazaras died Sept. 1 in Quetta, the capital of Balochistan, Human Rights Watch said. Armed men on motorbikes carried out two separate attacks -- one targeting vegetable sellers in a market and the other aimed at people waiting at a bus stop.

The government has allowed militant Sunni groups to act with impunity, Human Rights Watch said. Only a few people have been formally charged with attacks, although authorities claim dozens of arrests.