Logjam resolved, sit-ins over: Burials to precede PM’s visit

ISLAMABAD: In a late night development, much to the relief of citizens across Pakistan that had been waiting to see a speedy redressal of the grievances of the Hazara community, it was announced that the 10 coal miners who were massacred by terrorists on Sunday will be buried.

Deputy Speaker National Assembly Qasim Suri, who was in Quetta along with Balochistan Chief Minister Jam Kamal Khan and Minister for Maritime Affairs Ali Haider Zaidi to hold talks with Shuhada Action Committee late on Friday night, announced that the sit-in has come to an end with the Shuhada Committee agreeing to bury the martyred coal miners and Prime Minister Imran Khan and Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Qamar Javed Bajwa were set to depart for Quetta to condole with the bereaved families and listen to their grievances.

Leader of Shuhada Action Committee Syed Agha Raza said the bodies are being laid to rest with the consent of the bereaved families. Ali Zaidi said such incidences of violence must now come to an end. "We are making had to be removed have been decided.

The minister said that if governance in Pakistan "had not been so poor, poverty like this would not have existed". "People would not have been massacred like this," he said, adding: "Foreign elements wish to create sectarian division in Pakistan."

With the agreement reached, the sit-in by the families of the victims of the massacre, which had been staged for the past six days in freezing cold temperatures, came to an end. Zaidi also announced scholarships on behalf of his ministry for the children of all the victims.

Chief Minister Jam Kamal thanked the mourning families for agreeing to bury their loved ones. "We will try our utmost to serve you better," he said, adding that the system that does not have justice as a foundation does not prosper.

"You have honoured us and Balochistan by agreeing to our request (for the burial of the slain miners)," Jam Kamal said. According to media reports, the prime minister’s plane was being raided at Nur Khan Airbase for expected flight to Quetta.

With the end of Quetta sit-in, the other sit-ins in different parts of the country also came to an end.Majlis Wahdatul Muslimeen leader Allama Raja Nasir Abbas announced end to sit-in in Islamabad.

Earlier in the day, Prime Minister Imran Khan said that linking the burial of the Mach terror victims with his arrival at Quetta was blackmailing after all demands of the Hazara community were accepted by the government on Thursday.

Addressing the launch of Special Economic Zones Authority, Imran Khan said, “The prime minister is not blackmailed in such a way in any country. If they say they will not bury the dead until the prime minister arrives, then everyone would blackmail the prime minister. First of all, there is a 'gang of robbers', who will demand that corruption cases against them be dropped, otherwise they would overthrow the government. Their blackmailing has been continuing for the last two and a half years.” However, he announced visiting Quetta as soon as the Hazara community buries the victims.

He said that perhaps greatest atrocities were committed against members of the Hazara community, especially in the last 20 years since 9/11. "No other community has suffered so much. I have visited them many times after big tragedies and I felt their fear after the Mach incident. It is part of a conspiracy and I informed the cabinet in March and made public statements that India is trying to create chaos in Pakistan. India has also planned sectarian riots in Pakistan after killing Shia and Sunni scholars,” he explained.

The premier paid tributes to the intelligence agencies for averting four major terror incidents. "However, a high-profile Sunni cleric was killed in Karachi, but we managed to put out the fire after sectarian divisions were about to widen. After the Mach incident, I first sent the minister for interior, who interacted with the Hazara community and then sent two federal ministers there to express solidarity with them on behalf of the government,” he said, adding, "I assured them that we would take complete care of them and compensate them. We accepted their all demands, but they still refused to bury their dead. I have conveyed a message to them that when all their demands have been met, it is not appropriate to demand that they will not bury the dead until the prime minister arrives.”

The premier said, “I have said that as soon as they bury the dead, I will meet the bereaved families. I am saying again today that if you bury the dead today, I will go to Quetta today and meet the families, I guarantee, so it should be clear that all your demands have been accepted, but it is not appropriate to set the condition that the funeral would take place only if the prime minister arrives.”

Meanwhile, Interior Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed on said some security issues are behind the delay of Prime Minister Imran Khan’s visit to Quetta.

He said such issues could not be exposed due to security reasons. However, he said the PM will visit Quetta as soon as the matter of burial is settled. Addressing a press conference here, he said the prime minister is willing to visit Quetta after the burial of the slain miners belonging to the Hazara community. He said the premier is holding talks with Ulema and would visit Quetta after finalisation of issues. He said bodies are respectable for all and negotiations are still under way to resolve the matter.

He said the Frontier Corps has been directed to conduct search operations at a large scale. He said external forces are involved in targeting the Hazara community, and the prime minister has special sympathies for the community. He sought cooperation of religious scholars to amicably settle the matter of burial of the victims of the Mach incident. He said the PML-N Vice President Maryam Nawaz and PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari made political speeches in front of the Hazara community while Abdul Ghafoor Haideri pushed them to continue the sit-in. he said politics should be done at some other time as Pakistan is facing a new wave of terrorism.

Regarding crime situation in Islamabad, he said six crime incidents occurred in Islamabad from December to January. The culprits behind four incidents have been arrested while the remaining will be arrested soon. The minister said he was in favour of giving compensation to those Afghans who were martyred in Mach.

Earlier, five motorcycles were set ablaze in Karachi as sporadic clashes broke out between protesters holding sit-ins in around 28 different areas of the city against the Mach tragedy and frustrated commuters navigating the city amid widespread road closures.

According to police, some commuters trying to reach Shahrah-e-Faisal using sidewalks and alleys exchanged hot words and blows with protesters. Following the incident, the commuters abandoned their motorbikes and fled the scene. Five of those motorbikes were later set on fire by unidentified persons, police said. They said that an investigation of the matter is underway.

Earlier, Ayatollah Makarem Shirazi condemned the killing of coal miners belonging to Hazara community in Mach area of Balochistan and said the government in Pakistan has unfortunately failed to provide security to people.

He said people involved in massacre are defaming the Muslims and they deserve severest punishments. He said this cowardly attack has left the whole Ummah in deep shock.