On 28 February 2012, approximately 12 militants who were dressed in military uniforms stopped multiple buses on their routes through the Kohistan District in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan.

[2] The Shias in Pakistan frequently complain that "the Pakistani state does little to stop the attacks and has even released from custody notorious militants accused of carrying them out.

On an empty stretch of the Karakoram Highway (KKH), Kohistan, (an area with a high Sunni population[2]), 10 to 12 gunmen in military uniform flagged the bus for stopping.

[6] The protestors carried flags and banners and raised slogans against the government and the forces involved in terrorist activities, resulting in killing of dozens of Shias in Quetta and Gilgit-Baltistan.

They also blasted the government for its failure in maintaining law and order in Gilgit-Baltistan and called on it to take immediate action against those involved in the sectarian killings.

[citation needed] The leaders claimed hundreds of people had died in Parachinar, Hangu, Quetta and Gilgit- Baltistan, and accused the authorities of watching silently the loss of Shia community.