Shiites in Pakistan refuse to bury dead to protest huge bomb attack A suicide bomber killed more than 80 people over the weekend Its leaders say they want a military response to a series of recent attacks The victims are Hazaras, a long-suffering minority in southwestern Pakistan Islamabad, Pakistan (CNN) -- Shiite Muslims in the Pakistani city of Quetta are refusing to bury scores of people killed in a devastating weekend bombing until authorities respond to their demands to take military action against the Sunni extremists behind the attack. The macabre protest is an expression of the anger and frustration among Shiites in the southwestern province of Balochistan, whose capital is Quetta, over the government's failure to shield them from a series of bloody sectarian attacks in recent months. "We want the military to protect Shiites and want it to take control of law and order in the province," Syed Dawood Agha, president of the Balochistan Shiite Conference and the organizer of the protest, said Monday. Civilian government has failed to maintain law and order in the province. The outlawed Sunni militant group Lashkar-e-Jhangvi has said it carried out the attack Saturday in Quetta in which police say a suicide bomber rammed a water tanker laden with explosives into a crowded marketplace, setting off a huge blast that killed more than 80 people and wounded at least 180 others. The bombing, which has prompted demonstrations in cities across Sunni-majority Pakistan, follows a day of bomb attacks targeting Shiites in Quetta last month that killed at least 85 people. Lashkar-e-Jhangvi also claimed responsibility for those attacks. Desperate protest The Shiite community's decision to delay the burial of the bodies this week, a form of protest they also adopted after the January bombings, is a sign of its desperation after repeated requests to authorities for better protection. Not burying dead bodies immediately after death is taboo in Islam; a person's soul is not considered to be at rest until the body is in the ground. The Pakistani government in Islamabad has responded to the latest attack by vowing to catch the perpetrators and bring them to justice. But human rights groups say authorities have a bad track record of prosecuting those who carry out and incite attacks on Shiites. Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf has sent a delegation of lawmakers to Quetta to assess the situation there following the bombing and make recommendations. He has also requested that intelligence agencies explain how the suicide bomber managed to breach security measures. Ashraf's announcements Monday came as protests over the attack spread beyond Balochistan to other parts of Pakistan, including major cities such as Karachi and Islamabad, local media reported. A persecuted minority The Shiite community primarily targeted by Lashkar-e-Jhangvi in Balochistan are Hazaras, an ethnic minority from neighboring Afghanistan. Amnesty International said Monday it had documented 91 separate attacks on Shiites across Pakistan since January 2012 that had resulted in the deaths of about 500 people. At least half of those killed were Hazaras, Amnesty said, even though they are one of the smallest ethnic groups in Pakistan. "The last two months have been the worst on record for Quetta's beleaguered Hazara community," said Isabelle Arradon, deputy Asia-Pacific director at Amnesty. In fact, the attacks in January and February constitute some of the worst killings in Pakistan's recent history. Amnesty urged Pakistani authorities to "immediately carry out an impartial and independent investigation into the persistent failure of civil and military authorities to end such attacks." A lack of prosecutions The rights group said that to its knowledge, "no one has been prosecuted for the January 2013 attacks or other targeted killings of Hazaras in recent years." The bombing Saturday also drew condemnation from the office of U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan. The commission said it was "at a loss for words at this latest catastrophe to befall the long-suffering Hazaras of Balochistan." Lashkar-e-Jhangvi has tried to justify its attacks by arguing that according to its interpretation of Islam, Shiites are not Muslims. It claims Shiites insult close companions of the Islamic prophet, Muhammad. But human rights groups are scathing in their criticism of the group. "These attacks demonstrate Lashkar-e-Jhangvi's utter disregard for human rights and basic principles of humanity," said Arradon. Nasir Habib reported from Islamabad, and Jethro Mullen from Hong Kong. Shaan Khan in Islamabad contributed to this report.