Shiites lash out after Pakistan bombing kills 81

Pakistani relatives of Saturday's bombing victims mourn next to their bodies in a mosque in Quetta, Pakistan, Sunday, Feb. 17, 2013. Angry residents on Sunday demanded government protection from an onslaught of attacks against Shiite Muslims, a day after scores of people were killed in a massive bombing that a local official said was a sign that security agencies were too scared to do their jobs. (AP Photo/Arshad Butt)

By ABDUL SATTAR

Associated Press / February 17, 2013

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‘‘Officials and personnel of these institutions are scared (of the terrorists). Therefore they don’t take action against them,’’ he said in comments that were broadcast on local television.

Pakistan’s intelligence agencies helped nurture Sunni militant groups like Lashkar-e-Jhangvi in the 1980s and 1990s to counter a perceived threat from neighboring Iran, which is mostly Shiite. Pakistan banned Lashkar-e-Jhangvi in 2001, but the group continues to operate fairly freely in their war against Shiites.

According to Human Rights Watch, more than 400 Shiites were killed in 2012 in targeted attacks across the country, the worse year on record for anti-Shiite violence. The human rights group said more than 125 were killed in Baluchistan province. Most of them belonged to the Hazara community. With two attacks in two months in Baluchistan, that number has already been eclipsed.

Human rights groups have accused the government of not doing enough to protect Shiites.

Associated Press writers Asif Shahzad and Rebecca Santana in Islamabad contributed to this report.