Hazaras in Pakistan
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Hazaras have lived in what is now Pakistan since the 19th century. About 500,000 live in Balochistan, mainly in Quetta, where they have faced years of sectarian killings.
History
Hazaras worked in what is now Pakistan under British rule, and the earliest record cited is of a sappers company in Quetta in 1835.1 Many more arrived after the campaigns of the 1890s.1
Hazara figures in Pakistan's public life include General Muhammad Musa and the lawyer Jalila Haider.
Quetta today
Human Rights Watch estimates that about 500,000 Hazaras live in Balochistan, largely in Quetta. It reports more than 500 killed since 2008, in attacks mostly claimed by Lashkar-e-Jhangvi.2 The worst were the Quetta bombings of 2013.
Since 2012, attacks have pushed Quetta's Hazaras to limit their lives to the neighbourhoods of Mariabad and Hazara Town. Residents report economic hardship and limited access to education and travel.2