A grim year for Pakistan's persecuted religious minorities Human Rights Watch accuses government of failing to provide adequate protection or hold perpetrators to account Mourners from the Shia Hazara community gather next to the coffins of 11 miners killed in an attack claimed by Islamic State gunmen during a sit-in protest in Quetta on Jan. 8. (Photo: AFP) Rights activists in Pakistan have endorsed the findings of a leading advocacy group that reported a grim situation for religious minorities last year. Attacks by Islamist militants targeting law enforcement officials and religious minorities killed dozens of people in 2020, according to the recently released World Report 2021 of Human Rights Watch (HRW).