A GROUP of Southampton residents who fled “appalling violence” in their homeland triggered a House of Commons debate and demands for action.

Around 150 Hazaras have settled in the city, having escaped atrocities in Afghanistan and Pakistan carried out by an al-Qaeda-linked group against Shi’a Muslims.

Now growing concern about the bombings and suicide attacks – and the Pakistani authorities’ failure to stop them – has prompted Southampton’s MPs to call for help.

Leading the debate, John Denham, the Itchen MP, told ministers: “I knew little of the Hazara until I met constituents who had been forced to flee violence.

“The community in Quetta comprises about 500,000 people, yet nearly 1,500 people have been killed since 1999 and more than 3,500 injured.

“The attacks have targeted breadwinners and forced businesses to close, promoting economic deprivation, while some recent attacks have directly targeted women and children.”

Mr Denham said it was “shocking” that, in 16 years, not one attacker had been brought to justice, despite the Lashkar-e-Jhangvi group claiming responsibility.

And he called for stronger pressure from the Foreign Office, alongside assistance programmes from the Department for International Development and action at the United Nations.

Mr Denham said, of Lashkar-e-Jhangvi: “Leading members have been seen associating with public figures and politicians in Pakistan.”

Alan Whitehead, the Test MP, read out a letter in which the group threatened: “We will rid Pakistan of unclean people. We will make Pakistan the graveyard of the Shi’ite Hazaras and their houses will be destroyed by bombs and suicide bombers.”

Mr Whitehead warned: “That organisation is dedicated to eradicating an entire ethnic group from the face of the earth. Those are the circumstances under which the Pakistani Hazaras live daily.”

And Mike Thornton, the Liberal Democrat MP for Eastleigh, said: “Amnesty International says that the targeting of Hazaras is increasing. That must frighten all of us.”

In reply, Foreign Office minister Tobias Ellwood agreed: “The appalling acts of sectarian violence are well-documented. It is a tragedy that people from minority communities across Pakistan and Afghanistan, including the Hazaras, suffer the scourge of sectarian violence.”

Mr Ellwood said the violence would be discussed at the NATO summit and argued for the Hazaras to receive help from his department’s “conflict, security and stability fund”.