Federal ministers advised PM to go to Quetta
ISLAMABAD: Most federal ministers advised Prime Minister Imran Khan to travel to Quetta to share the pain and sorrow of the families of the slain miners of the Hazara community. For the last one week, the grieving families are staging a sit-in with the bodies within the freezing cold, refusing to bury their near and dear ones until the premier visits them.
The News spoke to a minimum of four federal ministers on Friday to hunt their opinion on the difficulty . All four of them were of the view that Prime Minister Imran Khan should visit Quetta to precise sympathy with the protesting Hazara community in order that the burial of these killed could happen . of these ministers, on condition of not being named, said that it had been the prime minister's own choice to not attend Quetta before the burial of the slain miners.
The ministerial sources said that the difficulty was also haunted within the cabinet meeting where most of the ministers had suggested to the prime minister to travel to Quetta. Two of those ministers said that it had been initially Interior Minister Shaikh Rashid who had advised the prime minister to attend for a couple of days.
However, one among these ministers told this correspondent that even the inside ministry later advised Prime Minister Imran Khan in writing to go to the protesting Hazara community. Another minister said that when the prime minister makes up his mind on certain issues, he never changes his decision. "Unfortunately, during this case he had made up his mind to not visit Quetta before the burial of the victims takes place," the minister said.
The prime minister on Friday indirectly confirmed during a public address what his ministers had told The News. On the occasion, the premier issued a highly controversial statement during which he appealed to the Hazara community to bury those killed within the Machh attack and called upon the aggrieved protesters to refrain from "blackmailing the prime minister" by insisting he involves Quetta as a precondition for the burial.
Speaking at the launching ceremony of the Special Technology Zones Authority in Islamabad, he assured the protestors that when the burial of these killed takes place, he would fly to Quetta on an equivalent day and meet the families of these killed.
"We have accepted all of their demands. But one among their demands is that the dead are going to be buried only the premier visits. I even have sent them a message that when all of your demands are accepted.... you do not blackmail the prime minister of any country like this."
Within a couple of hours of this controversial statement, federal minister Ali Haider Zaidi, while sharing a agreement offered to the Hazara community by the govt , tweeted: "If all is agreed, then who is playing politics with the bodies of the martyrs?"
Interestingly, Ali Haider Zaidi, a ministerial source confirmed, was among those ministers who within the cabinet meeting had supported the thought of Prime Minister Imran Khan visiting Quetta as per the demand of the Hazara community.
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