Hazaras in Quetta unwilling to bury slain coal miners till PM Imran Khan's arrival
QUETTA: The deadlock between the govt and members of the Hazara community to finish the latter's sit-in following the brutal killing of coal miners in Machh continued on Wednesday, with the protesters not compromising on the demand that they might not bury the dead till Prime Minister Imran Khan meets them.
Fresh talks on the matter, held each day after Interior Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed’s visit, were led by federal minister Ali Zaidi, who was sent because the government's envoy to influence the Hazaras to finish their demonstration.
The minister met the demonstrators and guaranteed them that the perpetrators of the Machh tragedy are going to be caught soon.
However, the families of the deceased refused to finish the sit-in and bury the victims of the tragedy, saying they're going to only end the protest after the prime minister meets them.
“Nothing can happen before the prime minister’s arrival. If he cannot come today, then he can come tomorrow,” a relative of 1 of the slain miners said.
“Balochistan has became a graveyard. Where is that the responsibility of the state?” asked the families of the victims.
The Hazara community are seeking the small print of the conviction of the accused within the killing of the Hazaras.
“Call [PM] Imran Khan, we are sitting here in -10 °C,” said one protester.
Federal minister Ali Zaidi condoled with families over the loss of life within the Machh incident but urged them to not subject the bodies of the coal miners to any longer 'cruelty'.
External elements behind Machh massacre: Zaidi
Zaidi admitted that “grave acts of cruelty” had been committed against the Hazara community over a period of your time .
“There is an outdoor hand involved in such heinous incidents,” said Zaidi, assuring them that the govt had knowledge on who the perpetrator was.
“This may be a well-planned conspiracy against the country,” the minister said about the Machh incident.
He added that representatives of the govt had arrived in Quetta on the instructions of the prime minister to barter with the protestors.
Zaidi appealed to the protesters to bury the dead and not keep the prime minister's visit to Quetta a condition for it.
He assured protesters that PM Imran Khan will arrive within the city to satisfy them, but that the burial of the dead shouldn't be prolonged any longer .
However, local Majlis Wahdat-e-Muslimeen leader Agha Raza told the minister that PM's arrival in Quetta to satisfy protestors shouldn't be called a 'condition'.
“On the one hand, the PDM is demanding his resignation — we are calling him here as our leader,” Raza said. He added that the prime minister's visit won't diminish his prestige but rather elevate it.
The government delegation led by Zaidi included Special Assistant to Prime Minister on Overseas Pakistanis Zulfi Bukhari and Deputy Speaker Qasim Khan Suri.
Women and youngsters attend Quetta protest
Members of the Hazara community have staged endless sit-in in Quetta in freezing temperatures to demand justice for the slain coal miners who were gunned down in Machh four days ago.
The bodies of the deceased are kept where the community is staging its demonstration, on the Quetta-Sibi highway (Western Bypass), near the Hazara Town.
Due to the presence of the protesters, the world is totally blocked off to traffic.
A large group of girls and youngsters also are at the protest, holding photographs of their loved ones killed within the tragic incident.
"We won't end our protest until the arrest of all the assassins," chief of Balochistan Shia Conference Agha Daud had told AFP on Tuesday.
"The latest wave of killings will spread to other cities, including Quetta, if a decisive action isn't taken at this stage," he added.
Ministers meet protestors
Multiple high-ranking officials have visited the protesters and tried to barter with them, but they need refused to finish the sit-in till PM Imran Khan meets them.
Earlier, Balochistan Home Minister Mir Ziaullah Langove had visited the protesters' camp along side other provincial ministers.
Interior Minister Sheikh Rasheed had also visited Quetta and briefed PM Imran Khan over the protests.
Rasheed had told protestors on Monday that he's able to accept all the stress of the Hazara, except the resignation of the Balochistan government.
Rasheed had also announced compensation amounting to Rs2.5 million for the families of every of the deceased coal miners.
Protests in support of the Hazara community have also spread to other cities, including Karachi and Gilgit.
The incident
Ten colliers were killed and 4 others seriously injured on Sunday after armed men attacked them at a coal field in Balochistan's Bolan district.
The coal miners, consistent with police, were taken to nearby mountains where they were shot.
The 10 miners were kidnapped before dawn on Sunday as they slept near the remote coalpit within the southwestern mountainous Machh area — 60 kilometres southeast of Quetta city, government official Abid Saleem said.
Security officials who didn't want to be named told AFP the attackers first separated the miners before tying their hands and feet and taking them into the hills to kill them.
Two of the miners were Afghans and their bodies are sent to Afghanistan for burial, an area security official told AFP.
Officials on Monday clarified ten people had died within the attack, revising a previous price of 11, AFP reported.
The militant group Daesh has claimed the attack, consistent with SITE Intelligence, which monitors militant activities worldwide.
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