Islamabad (Web Desk): Prime Minister Imran Khan has once again appealed to the Hazara families not to link burials of Mach massacre victims with the premier’s visit to Quetta.
Speaking at the launching ceremony of the Special Technology Zones Authority here on Friday, PM Khan said the government had assured the protesters that all their demands will be accepted.
“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,” he maintained.
On Wednesday, Balochistan Chief Minister Jam Kamal visited the protest camp of the Hazara families and requested to bury the Mach massacre victims.
Earlier, thousands of Hazara community members protesting the brutal kidnapping and execution of at least eleven coal miners in Balochistan’s Machh have refused to call off their sit-in till PM Khan visits Quetta.
The protesters demanded that those who were involved in the killing of the coal miners should be brought to justice.
On Monday, Interior Minister Sheikh Rasheed Ahmed reached Quetta and joined a sit-in organised by families of the deceased coal miners. He also met a delegation of the Majlis-e-Wahdatul Muslimeen (MWM), who are leading the sit-in.
The minister offered to form a five-to-seven-member committee to meet with Prime Minister Imran Khan in Islamabad. He also announced compensation amounting to Rs2.5 million for each family of coal mine workers.
“Each family of the martyrs will be given Rs1 million by PM Khan, while Rs1.5 million by the chief minister of Balochistan,” said the minister while talking to the media.
The minister said he is ready to accept all the demands of the Hazara people, except the resignation of the Balochistan government.
