PM reaches Quetta as Hazara coal miners laid to rest

Late Friday night, govt negotiators managed to persuade Hazaras to call off sit in, bury coal miners

QUETTA/ ISLAMABAD:

Prime Minister Imran Khan on Saturday reached Quetta to meet bereaved families of the Machh victims as the Hazara community buried the slain coal miners.

The prime minister left for Quetta on a special flight from the Nur Khan airbase. Federal ministers including Interior Minister Shiekh Rashid are accompanying the premier.

Upon arriving in Quetta, the premier held a high-level meeting with the Balochistan authorities including Baochistan Chief Minister Jam Kamal, Balochistan Governor Amanullah Khan Yasinzai.

Commander Southern Command, Lt General Sarfraz Ali was also present on the occasion.

Funeral prayers of Machh victims were offered at the Hazara graveyard in Quetta.

Deputy Speaker National Assembly Qasim Khan Suri, Special Assistant to Prime Minister on Overseas Pakistanis Zulfiqar Abbas Bukhari, Federal Minister, Ali Zaidi, Provincial Ministers and leaders of different political parties and a large number of people attended the funeral prayers.

During his day-long visit, he will meet the bereaved families of the martyrs of tragic Machh incident.

The prime minister will also chair a high-level meeting in which the aftermath of the Machh incident and collective law and order situation of the province will be reviewed.

Late Friday night, the government negotiators led by Balochistan Chief Minister Jam Kamal Khan and including Maritime Affairs Minister Ali Zaidi managed to persuade the Hazaras to call off their sit-in and bury the coal miners murdered in Machh earlier this week.

The families, who had been encamped on the Western Bypass, alongside coffins carrying the mortal remains of the slain miners, confirmed they had ended their protest after their demands were accepted by the government.

“All of our demands have been accepted,” a member of the Hazara Shuhada Committee told reporters in Quetta. “The families have decided to bury their martyrs,” he said, after the late-night talks between the protesters and senior government functionaries in Quetta.

According to the agreement, the government will take action against those responsible for negligence in the Machh incident. A high-level commission, led by the provincial home minister, has been formed for investigation in this regard.

The agreement stipulates that the Balochistan government will pay Rs1.5 million compensation to the heirs of each martyr as well as provide employment.

Last Sunday, 11 colliers, from the Hazara community, were slaughtered purportedly by the Islamic State terrorist group in the Machh area of Bolan district. Since then, the relatives and supporters of the community had been holding a vigil alongside the coffins of the victims.

The protesters had demanded that they would not end their sit-in and bury the dead until the prime minister comes to give them personal assurance that targeted killings of the ethnic Hazaras, who are predominantly Shias, would end.

The announcement of the agreement came hours after Prime Minister Imran once again made an impassioned appeal to the bereaved community not to make burials conditional to his visit, saying that a prime minister could not be “blackmailed” for such a visit.