(Ahlul Bayt News Agency) - Pakistan’s Shi'a Hazara Democratic Party has announced a 10-day strike to protest the targeted killings of Hazara Shia Muslims in the southwestern province of Balochistan.

A 10-day strike will be held from April 20 to 30, the party chairman Abdul Khaliq Hazara said in Balochistan’s provincial capital Quetta on Tuesday.

He also called for the holding of a conference involving all parties to discuss the killing of innocent Hazara community members.

The announcement comes a day after terrorist gunmen belong to Sipah-e-Sahaba riding a motorbike opened fire on a shoe shop, slaying six Shia Muslims and injuring three others in the Hazara region of Quetta.

Hundreds of people took to the streets across the Balochistan province on Tuesday, chanting slogans against the government for failing to arrest the perpetrators.

Meanwhile, shops, markets and educational institutions have been closed in response to the call for the strike over the killings.

Chief Minister of Balochistan Nawab Aslam Raisani has fired six police officials for dereliction of duty and 17 suspects have been arrested in connection with the incident.

The Hazara are people who mainly live in central Afghanistan. They are overwhelmingly Shi'a Muslims and comprise the third largest ethnic group of Afghanistan, Over a million Hazaras live in neighbouring Pakistan especially in the city of Quetta.

/129