QUETTA: The families of victims of the attack on coal miners in Balochistan’s Mach town continued their sit-in on Quetta’s Western Bypass on the third consecutive day on Tuesday.
11 miners were abducted and executed early Sunday morning in an attack later claimed by the so-called Islamic State militant group. The victims were said to be members of the Shia Hazara community that has suffered a number of similar attacks in the past.
Families of the victims placed the dead bodies on a road connecting Quetta with Sukkar on Sunday but later moved the bodies to the provincial capital. They refused to bury the dead until Prime Minister Imran Khan visited them.
Minister for Interior Sheikh Rasheed Ahmed arrived in Quetta on Prime Minister Imran’s instructions and held negotiations with the grieving community. Even as he urged the protestors to call off the demonstration so that the bodies could be laid to rest and expressed willingness to accept most of their demands, the Hazara community did not accede to his call.
In a post-attack statement, IS claimed its Pakistan branch executed the men. The terrorist group has targeted Shia Muslims, their shrines and places of worship in countries where the group has its loyalists.
In addition, IS militants, in recent months, have carried out major attacks against the Hazara community in Afghanistan, killing scores of people.
In a press conference after the meeting with the protestors, Ahmed said the demands of the Hazara community would be conveyed to the premier. He asked the Majlis Wahdat-e-Muslimeen (MWM) leaders to form a five or seven members committee for a meeting with Imran in Islamabad.
