Protests continue in Karachi, spread to other cities over massacre of coal miners

Protest demonstrations over the killing of 11 Hazara minority coal miners in Balochistan’s Machh area last week have spread to various cities of the country including in Karachi and Lahore.

According to police officials, protesters have staged sit-ins at least 20 locations of the port city including Numaish Chowrangi, Nipa Chowrangi, University Road near Safari Park, Abul Hassan Isphani Road, Kamran Chowrangi, Natha Khan Bridge, Quaidabad, Shah Faisal Colony, Power House Chowrangi, Khuda ki Basti, Nazimabad No 1 and other locations.

Meanwhile, traffic jams were witnessed in various areas, as roads remained blocked during the demonstrations.

Traffic police have advised the commuters to use alternative routes.

The protest demonstration is also being held outside the Governor House Punjab and in different cities of Sindh including Hyderabad and Khairpur.

Flights were also delayed because access to the airport had been affected.

Thousands of protesters blocked the Quetta’s key western bypass on Sunday after 11 coalminers belonging to the Hazara community were brutally executed by the Islamic State terrorists at a residential compound near a mine site in Machh area of Bolan, some 100km away from the provincial capital.

The demonstrators have asked Prime Minister Imran Khan to visit Quetta, where they have kept up a five-day long vigil alongside coffins carrying the victims’ bodies, blocking a major highway.

Demands also include the dissolution of the provincial government there, and a serious effort by Islamabad to find and punish the culprits.

Most of the victims were seasonal migrant workers from an impoverished area of neighbouring Afghanistan.

Islamic State, also known as Da’ish, has claimed responsibility for the attack, through its Amaq news agency via its Telegram communications channel.

Their gruesome killings, near the coal fields they worked, were filmed and later posted online by the militant organisation.

The Afghanistan consulate in Quetta said seven of the victims were Afghan, and asked local authorities to repatriate three of the bodies on Tuesday.

After nearly 100 Hazaras were killed in a 2013 bombing in Quetta, sit-ins were held across the country that only ended after the then prime minister Raja Pervaiz Ashraf met with the mourners.