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Hazara woman runs restaurant to help terror victims

Nayab Fatima
29 Dec, 2017
Life & Style
-Hindustantimes -Hindustantimes

Web Desk: Hameeda Ali Hazara set-up a restaurant in Hazara Town, Quetta. She named the restaurant ‘Hazara resturant’ and her aim is to help and to create jobs for the female victims of terror attack.

Hameeda Ali Hazara is preparing food.

Hameeda Ali Hazara prepares food in Hazara Town,Quetta. Working at the ‘Hazara’ restaurant is a potentially deadly political act as all the employees are female members of a Shiite ethnic minority often targeted because of their Central Asian features. Living in a society with women doubly oppressed --from terrorism and conservative patriarchal values, Hameeda set up the restaurant to cater relief to victims and create jobs beyond household work. (Banaras Khan / AFP) -Hindustantimes

She is waiting for the customers.

Hameeda Ali Hazara, who runs the restaurant, waits for customers in Hazara Town, Quetta. According to Abdul Khaliq Hazara, chairman of the Hazara Democratic Party at least 2,000 members of the community have been murdered in Balochistan. An additional 75,000 to 100,000 have fled violence elsewhere in the country or abroad with some “drowning at sea” before reaching their destination. (Banaras Khan / AFP) -Hindustantimes

The restaurant has three female employees, all are the victims of violence.

The restaurant has three employees who are all victims of violence. Living with the memories of multiple attacks in 2013 that killed nearly 200 people, Hazara set up the restaurant, hoping to provide a way to help families and female victims of the attacks. (Banaras Khan / AFP) -Hindustantimes

An employ is serving food to customers.

Besides being a constant target of terrorism, the tribulations of Hazara women are complicated by the patriarchal subordination of a conservative community. Female employment drops to 2% in the service sector in Balochistan. The restaurant also aims to push the staff to “seize work opportunities instead of staying home with a needle and thread”, Hameeda told AFP. (Banaras Khan / AFP) -Hindustantimes

To prevent inappropriate behavior, cameras have also been installed.

To prevent inappropriate behaviour from customers unaccustomed to seeing women at work, Hameeda has posted signs urging patrons to be “pleasant to waitresses and talk to them with due regard for moral values”. Cameras have also been installed as a security measure and in a bid to prevent harassment. (Banaras Khan / AFP) -Hindustantimes

Hameeda says, ‘I am continuously receiving threats on social media and phone calls to shut down this restaurant’. “Such things cannot discourage me. I am the real life of my Hazara community and Balochistan.” She added.

“I am continuously receiving threats on social media... and phone calls asking me to shut this restaurant because it is a ‘den of obscenity’,” she says, adding that she has called on authorities to guarantee her security threatened by those who brand her initiative a “disgrace” and a breach of “honour”.. “Such things cannot discourage me. I am the real face of my Hazara community and Balochistan”, she added. (Banaras Khan / AFP) -Hindustantimes

Hazara is a place where extremists often targeted the civilians. According to the chairman of Hazara Democratic Party Abdul Khaliq Hazara, At least, 2,000 members of the community have been murdered in Balochistan.

 

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