By Syed Shoaib Hasan | BBC News, Balochistan

Hundreds of people belonging to the minority Shia community have been killed in Pakistan in 2011.

Most of the killings have taken place in the western province of Balochistan.

This volatile region is Pakistan’s most strategically important area – sharing borders with Afghanistan and Iran.

It is also home to various different ethnic groups – which are often at war with each other.

They include the million-strong ethnic Hazara community – who have been the focus of many of the attacks.

The Hazaras are mainly migrants from Afghanistan – they are known as the Hazarajat in that country.

Death threats

The community came to what was then western India in the early 20th century.

Hazaras settled mostly around Quetta – it allowed them easy access to their communities back home.

The city was also located on the main route of Shia pilgrims going to Iran – which remains the spiritual headquarters for Islam’s Shia community.

Starting out as labourers – the Hazaras flourished and now have sizeable shares in business, education and sports.

But these high achievers are now living under the shadow of the gun.

Take the case of Abrar Hussain Shah for example.

He was revered as one of Pakistan’s most celebrated sportsmen – an Olympics and Asian games medallist.

A director of the Pakistan Sports Board before he was murdered – he could have easily have taken up a comfortable job in Islamabad.

“But he was never like that – he always wanted to work where he could make a difference,” says his wife Nausheen Shah.

Such dedication eventually cost him his life.

“He had been receiving threats – those sending it said they were from Lashkar-e-Jhangvi Afghanistan,” Mrs Shah says.

Tears for a husband

However, her husband brushed them aside. “He said ‘I’m just a sportsman – not a politician or religious leader’.”

“‘Why would anyone harm me’?”

Then he was gone – shot dead four months ago while driving back home by gunmen on motorbikes.

For his wife Ms Shah life since then has seemed like an eternity.

Even her children’s laughter cannot stop her tears for her husband.

“His only crime was that he was a Hazara – a Shia,” she says.

His niece says his murder – and those of at least 100 Shia victims in different attacks this year – could have been prevented by the government.

“They can definitely prevent these attacks – but there has to be the will,” she said. “Quetta is a small city. We’ve got different security forces… why are they not working? Why are not they doing their job properly?”

Pro-Taliban Sunni militants admit carrying out most of the attacks.

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