Yesterday was 11th death-anniversary of those poor Shia Muslims who were massacred just because of their Shia identity in chilas(Gilgit Baltistan), Pakistan. As usual mainstream media organizations didn’t mention the said tragic incident in news bulletins of their electronic channels, neither special editions were published in dailies owned by them, nor not a single article about it appeared on their official websites, while daily newspapers of the mainstream organizations regularly publish special editions on death-anniversary of leaders of sectarian banned involved in Shia-genocide here in Pakistan.

 

3^rd April(2012) was another tragic day for Shia Muslims travelling in six passenger buses that were stopped by terrorists of Laskar-i-Jhangvi -LJ death squad of banned outfit Ahle Sunnat Wal Jamaat (ASWJ also known as Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistan-SSP) in Bonar Das area in Chilas (Gilgit Baltistan) passengers were segregated by checking their identity documents or/and examining at their backs (to see self-flagellation marks on Shia Muslims), those found or believed to be Shia Muslims were brutally killed and many other Shias were kidnapped.

They were first brutally tortured, then killed with stones. Acid was thrown on some of the slain Shias to burn them alive.

 

The 3 April 2012 carnage in Chilas was the consequence of the February 2012 butchery when ASWJ-SSP militants stopped buses and vans travelling to Gilgit on the Karakoram Highway in Kohistan, substantiated the identity of the passengers before slaughtering  16 members of the Shia Muslim community.

According to blog website “Pakistan Blogzine”:

In the aftermath of the Chilas massacre in April 2012, Pakistani state (both Pakistan army and government) made an all-out effort to block information from Gilgit Baltistan to the rest of Pakistan and international community. Upon advice by Pakistan army (ISI in particular), Pakistan government instructed the print and electronic media to refrain from using words such as “Shia killing” or “Shia genocide” and instead use a false neutral term “sectarian violence between Sunnis and Shias”. The aim was to cover up the Shia genocide taking place at the hands of Jihadi-sectarian militants (ASWJ, SSP) who are allied with the Taliban & Al Qaeda and who are known to enjoy support by Pakistan army and ISI-influenced judiciary. Given that Pakistani media complied with the government/army’s instructions to refrain from reporting the full scale and extent of Shia genocide, there was very little published information on what actually happened in Chilas.

 

According to media reports 5 people had been arrested in connection with the shooting and stoning of Shia passengers near Chilas, on 16 April 2012. Later on 31 December 2013 an Anti-Terrorism Court has acquitted five people, including Maulana Muzammil Shah, Muhammad Yasir, Mehmudul Hasan, Rizwan and Qari Qayyum.

 

These people had been arrested after a grand search operation in the wake of a heinous mob violence near Chilas, the headquarters of Diamer District, on April 3, 2012, in which at least 9 people, mostly Shias, were mercilessly killed. The violent mob had also thrashed a senior police official and torched many buses.

exclusive video of the Shia massacre in Chilas

 

It is pertinent to note that Maulana Muzamil Shah was arrested on 16 April 2012 and his arrest had been presented as a major success by the police and government officials. He was also accused of being the master mind of the Chilas massacre. (see: https://pamirtimes.net/2013/12/31/anti-terrorism-court-approves-bail-five-people-accused-chilas-massacre/)