After PM, Maryam also appeals to Hazara mourners to bury their loved ones

Hours after Prime Minister Imran Khan’s plea, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) Vice-President Maryam Nawaz has also appealed to families of coal miners, who were slain in a terrorist attack in Machh on Sunday, to “bury their loved ones so their souls could find peace”.

While expressing her sorrow and grief over the tragic incident, Maryam took to Twitter and wrote: “My mothers and sisters! brutal murder of your loved ones is not a trivial tragedy and the whole nation is with you in your grief. I and my father are also sad.”

The PML-N leader also criticised PM Imran for not yet visiting the aggrieved families and protesters who have set a condition of the burial of the 11 deceased with the premier’s visit.

Members of the Hazara community have blockaded a highway in Quetta with the bodies since Sunday, demanding that they will not withdraw until the prime minister meets them and the killers are brought to justice.

Without naming the premier she wrote on the microblogging site, saying: “Don’t wait for an insensitive and hard-hearted man who is not answerable to you or the people.”

In a series of tweets she also urged the protesters to bury the deceased. “I appeal to you [Hazara community] to bury their loved ones and also pray that Almighty Allah may forgive them, elevate their ranks and give you patience. Ameen,” she added.

Earlier in the day, PM Imran also assured the Hazara community that he was cognizant of their sufferings and demands and requested them to bury the bodies of the miners.

“I share your pain and have come to you before also to stand with you in your time of suffering,” he said adding that we will come again very soon to offer prayers and condole with all the families personally.

“I will never betray my people's trust. Please bury your loved ones so their souls find peace,” he urged the community.

Islamic State militants slit the throats of 11 miners in a residential compound near a mine site in Balochistan on Sunday, filming the entire incident and later posting it online.

Thousands of Hazaras have since staged a protest, arranging the coffins across a highway in the provincial capital.

In a series of tweets, the premier assured that the government was taking steps to prevent such attacks in the future.

Without mentioning a country, the premier further stated that the government was well aware that Pakistan’s “neighbour was instigating this sectarian terrorism”.