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.
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."
'PM ready to go when bodies are buried'
Addressing a press conference a little while later, Interior Minister Sheikh Rashid said that the premier would travel to Quetta to meet with the grieving families as soon as the victims were laid to rest.
"It is Imran Khan's wish that he goes there and he is ready to go, there is no obstacle in him going," said Rasheed, adding that the premier wanted to hold a "detailed discussion" with the Hazara community once the victims are buried "so all issues can be resolved and decided peacefully".
"It is not about burials, it is about certain situations," he explained. "If the prime minister goes there and the crowd is removed and security in involved, that can also cause conflict and the corpses may get disrespected so it is better to go in an organised manner," he added.
The interior minister also lamented that the issue was being politicised. "There is a lot of time for politics, the next three months in this country are for politics," he said, adding however, that politics should not be done on the issue of burial of martyrs. "As soon as this issue is resolved, the prime minister will depart from here for them," he reiterated.
PML-N Vice President Maryam Nawaz on Friday once again hit out at Prime Minister Imran Khan for not having visited the Shia Hazaras protesting the killing of coal miners in the Mach area so far, and for suggesting they were "blackmailing" the premier.
Speaking at a press conference in Karachi, she said Prime Minister Imran had admitted today that he was not going to Quetta "not because of a security threat but ego [and] his stubbornness".
"The nation wants to know what was the problem which prevented you from going and putting your hand on their heads. If this was due to obedience (tabedari), then the nation wants to know is obedience more important than the people's lives?" she said.
"If this is superstition then tell the nation so [it] knows the lives of 220 million people are not in the hands of any person or government but decided through superstition."If this is insensitivity and ruthlessness then tell the nation so we know not to look towards you in crisis and [know that] you won't come and call innocents blackmailers," the PML-N leader added.On Sunday, armed attackers 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.
Earlier today, the prime minister was widely criticised on social media when, amidst countrywide protests and rising political pressure, he suggested that the protesters were "blackmailing" him by refusing to bury their loved ones until he visits them.
Maryam in her presser described the painful scenes she witnessed on Thursday when she visited the Hazara protest camp outside Quetta, describing it as "a scene like Karbala".
She said she did not intend to do a press conference and was in Karachi only for a transit flight, but "when I heard in the morning 'I won't be blackmailed and no one can blackmail me, you bury your dead then I'll come to you,' then I couldn't stay without talking to the nation."
Terming his remarks "devoid of humanity", Maryam said it was a "great failure" on the part of the government that the Hazaras who were a vulnerable population and had been repeatedly targeted in the past again became victim to a terrorism incident.
She said the relatives of the slain miners were sitting in sub-zero temperatures along with their coffins for the past six days, waiting for the "callous" leader. "They are not demanding inheritance from you or asking to resurrect the dead or demanding a long list. [...] They only wanted you to come and give a hand of support so they could bury their dead; they only wanted two words of sympathy," she added.
"When I asked them what are your demands, they said we have no demands, we only want the [prime minister] to come here and cover our wounds and reassure us that such events won't happen again."
Maryam said leaders develop "humility and fear of God" when they are given leadership roles, "but this statement I heard today shook my heart, this ruthlessness, negligence in your duties and so much pride. We can only pray for you".
Referring to the premier's condition that he will visit Quetta only if the protesters lay the miners to rest, she said it would have been too late by then. "When you couldn't share in their moment of pain, then after that no matter how many times you go, it will have no worth and no one will accept it," she stressed.
The PML-N leader said the government had refused to divulge to media why the prime minister could not visit Quetta, adding that if those reasons concerned security or threats to his life, then the opposition leaders too faced similar "threats".
"We also faced danger, we were also not allowed but we went there and did whatever we could do," Maryam said, questioning whether the premier's life was "more valuable than those of 220m people" and the slain miners.
She alleged that Imran had "time to watch dramas and play with dogs and soak the sun in huge lawns but you don't have time to partake in the pain and grief of the Hazara community".
She again appealed to the Hazaras to bury their loved ones, telling them "the person you have kept hopes from has no heart in his chest."
"He is not in a position to give NRO (National Reconciliation Ordinance-like concession)," Maryam said, referring to Prime Minister Imran. "The one who didn't get the permission to go to Quetta, what worth does he have to give NRO?"
