Pakistani opposition leaders meet mourners of slain miners in Quetta

Opposition leaders Bilawal Bhutto Zardari and Maryam Nawaz met with mourners from the Shiite Hazara community gathering near the coffins of miners, who were killed in an attack by gunmen in Machh area, during a sit-in protest in Quetta on Jan. 7, 2021. (Photo Courtesy: PMLN)

• Bilalwal Bhutto-Zardari, chairman of Pakistan Peoples Party, and Maryam Nawaz Sharif, vice president of Pakistan Muslim-League Nawaz, arrive in Balochistan capital
• Majlis-e-Wihdatul Muslimeen, Shia political group heading the protests, says sit-in to be called off only when PM Khan meets protesters in Quetta

ISLAMABAD: Bilalwal Bhutto-Zardari, chairman of the Pakistan Peoples Party and Maryam Nawaz Sharif, vice president of the Pakistan Muslim-League Nawaz, on Thursday arrived in Quetta, the provincial capital of southwestern province of Balochistan, to meet with protesters who for the last five days have been sitting on a major highway with the coffins of 11 miners killed in a militant attack last week.
Gunmen abducted a group of minority Hazara Shia coal miners and killed 11 on early Sunday, Pakistani officials said. The Daesh group later claimed responsibility for the attack in a statement on its website. The militant group has repeatedly targeted Pakistan’s minority Shias in recent years. 
Families of the victims placed the dead bodies on a road connecting Quetta with Sukkar on Sunday, but later moved them to the provincial capital where they have been sitting with the coffins on a major highway since. They demand that they will call off their sit-in only when Prime Minister Imran Khan visits Quetta to meet protesters. 
A member of Khan’s cabinet, who declined to be named, said the PM’s plans to travel to Quetta were “not yet finalized.” 
On Wednesday, Khan urged relatives of the slain miners to end their protest and bury their loved ones, saying he would visit the mourners for condolences “soon.” 
“I share your pain & have come to you before also to stand with you in your time of suffering,” the PM tweeted, addressing relatives of the deceased. “I 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.” 
But the Majlis-e-Wihdatul Muslimeen, a Shia political group that is heading the protests, said the sit-in would be called off only when the PM came to Quetta. 
Quetta is home to roughly 600,000 Hazara Shias, largely confined to two fortified enclaves, and checkpoints manned by paramilitary personnel. 
“The people of Hazara community are great, who despite such terrorist attacks are loyal to the country,” the interior minister told reporters. 
On Monday, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs condemned the killing of 11 miners, saying seven of them were Afghan citizens. 
An official with the Levies Force, which serves as police and paramilitary in the area, told local media the gun attack took place near the remote Machh coal field, about 48 km east of the provincial capital Quetta. 
Agha Syed Muhammad Raza, a senior leader of the Majlis-e-Wihdatul Muslimeen, said the victims had been blindfolded, with their arms and legs tied up, and were killed with knives. 
“We have become tired of picking up the bodies of our people,” Syed Agha Raza, a Hazara political leader, told Reuters. 
Masooma Yaqoob Ali said her elder brother along with four other relatives was among those killed. 
“Now we have no male member [of our family] to take coffins of our brother and other relatives to the graveyard for burial,” she said, shedding tears as she spoke.