Photos: Culinary venture leads Pakistan’s Hazara women to social security

Hameeda Ali Hazara set up the "Hazara" restaurant in a bid to help the victims of terror attacks. Working at the all female restaurant in Quetta, Pakistan is a potentially deadly political act for the Shiite ethnic minority often targeted by extremists who consider them heretics.

Updated on: Dec 27, 2017 12:03 PM IST

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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)

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The outlet, named after the ethnic Hazara who make up a large part of Pakistan’s Shiite minority, is located in the restive capital of Balochistan --also the headquarters of Afghan Taliban where sectarian attacks are frequent. (Banaras Khan / AFP)

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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)

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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)

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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)

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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)

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“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)