In recent weeks, a string of violence in Karachi and other parts of Pakistan has painted a grim picture for minorities in the Sunni-dominated Islamic Republic.
Pakistani human rights activists and others who speak out against injustices are too few in number, with outspoken voices regularly killed off.
In April, 40-year-old social activist Sabeen Mahmud was killed after she left a Karachi meeting on missing people in the Baluchistan province. A few days later, Syed Waheed-ur-Rehman , a professor at the Karachi University Mass Communications Department, was gunned down. Meanwhile, Bernadette L. Dean, a member of the government advisory board for textbooks and curriculum, fled Pakistan after receiving death threats, reported the LA Times.
Pakistani authorities recently arrested four college-educated men who were responsible for several targeted killings in Karachi. The announcement reportedly drew suspicion, with people believing that the arrests were made 'hastily'.
Meanwhile social activist Jibran Nasir, who screened a documentary on sectarian and religious violence in Pakistan in the US, has said that he doesn't believe in personal safety, wanting the world community to be there and be counted 'when something happens'.