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Prime Minister Imran Khan on Friday once again appealed to the Hazara community to bury those killed in the attack in Balochistan’s Mach area, calling on them to refrain from “blackmailing the premier”.
Speaking at the launching ceremony of the Special Technology Zones Authority in Islamabad, he said that the government had assured the protesters that they will be compensated.
“We have accepted all of their demands. [But] one of their demands is that the dead will be buried when the premier visits. I have sent them a message that when all of your demands have been accepted […] you don’t blackmail the prime minister of any country like this.
“Anyone will blackmail the prime minister then,” he said, adding that this included a “band of crooks” in apparent reference to the Pakistan Democratic Movement. “This blackmail has also been ongoing for two-and-a-half years.”
The prime minister said that the protesters were informed that he will visit once they bury those slain in the attack. “I am using this platform to say that if you bury them today, I will go to Quetta to meet the families of the deceased.
“This should be clear. All of your demands have been met but you can’t impose a condition which has [no logic]. So first, bury the dead. If you do it today then I guarantee you that I will come to Quetta today.”
PM Imran’s remarks come as Balochistan’s Shia Hazara community continue its protest for the sixth straight day on Friday, refusing to bury those who were brutally killed over the weekend.
On Sunday, armed attackers had slit the throats of 11 miners in a residential compound near a mine site in Balochistan’s Mach coalfield area, filming the entire incident and later posting it online. The gruesome attack was claimed by the militant Islamic State group.
Since then, thousands of Hazaras have staged a protest along with coffins containing the miners’ bodies in the western bypass area in Quetta, while members of the community have also held protests in other cities across the country.
In pictures: Protesters take to the streets in several cities against Mach massacre
Braving the biting cold, the mourners, including women and children, have refused to leave until the premier visits and the killers are brought to justice.
At the start of his address, the premier stated that the Hazara community has faced “the most cruelty”. He said that the killing of the 11 coal miners in Mach was part of a conspiracy that he has been highlighting “since March”.
“I had informed my cabinet and then gave public statements on this: India is trying its level best to spread chaos in Pakistan,” he said, adding that this was focused on fanning the flames of sectarianism.
“I laud our intelligence agencies on the fact that they thwarted four major terrorist events. Despite this, a high profile Sunni aalim was killed in Karachi […] with great difficulty we managed to quell the flames of a sectarian divide.”
He added that as soon as the Mach incident took place, he first sent Interior Minister Sheikh Rashid and then two federal ministers — Ali Haider Zaidi and Zulfi Bukhari — to speak with the mourners and assure them that the government stood with them.
“We know, me especially, the kind of cruelty they have faced.”
Incentives for IT sector
Talking about the launch of the authority, PM Imran said that Pakistan had failed to give incentives to the IT sector. “Even during the pandemic, the companies that gained were from the IT sector. So we have been left behind.”
He said that purpose of the technology zones was to provide incentives to the industry so that it can provide job opportunities to the youth and up the country’s exports. “The IT sector can play a huge role in this.”
“I hope that this step will become an opportunity for the IT sector to boost our exports. We are also hoping for foreign investment in this regard,” he said.