AhlulBayt News Agency (ABNA): Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan reached Quetta on Saturday, hours after 10 coal miners from the Hazara Shia community, who were killed brutally in an attack on January 3, were laid to rest at the city's Hazara Town cemetery.
He is expected to meet the families of the miners later today.
Funeral prayers for the coal miners were offered earlier today after Grand Iranian Shia cleric 'Ayatollah Naser Makarem Shirazi' and also the government requested the family of the martyrs to bury the dead bodies.
The prayers were led by Allama Raja Nasir Abbas in Quetta's Hazara Town with close to 5,000 people attending including the relatives and friends of the deceased, locals and residents of the area.
Federal Maritime Minister Ali Zaidi, Special Assistant to the PM Zulfi Bukhari, National Assembly Deputy Speaker Qasim Suri, Provincial Home Minister Mir Zia Langove and other provincial ministers and civil society leaders were also present on the occasion.
A prayer service will be held in imambargah Wali Asr after the burials at the Hazara Town Cemetery.
The protestors continuing to stay on the road alongside the dead bodies of their loved ones for six days, eventually agreed to bury the deceased after request of Grand Shia Jurisprudent 'Ayatollah Makarem Shirazi' and also negotiations with a government team in the early hours of Saturday morning.
Balochistan CM Jam Kamal and Suri had announced yesterday that the premier will reach Quetta after the miners' burials.
Mach tragedy
Eleven miners were brutally massacred on Sunday, Jan 3, when armed assailants entered their residential compound in the Mach coalfield area of Balochistan where they were sleeping, blindfolded and trussed them up before executing them. The U.S.-Saudi backed militants of ISIS group, also known by the Arabic acronym Daesh, claimed responsibility for the attack.
Relatives and residents started their protest on the same day, arranging the coffins on the Western Bypass on the outskirts of Quetta and refusing to bury them in a symbolic gesture until the prime minister's visit and assurance of protection.
The protests later spread to other parts of the country, including Peshawar, Lahore and Karachi, where demonstrators blocked several important roads, disrupting traffic.
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source : Dawn News
Saturday
9 January 2021
10:22:25 AM
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Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan reaches Quetta after Shia Hazara miners laid to rest
Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan reached Quetta on Saturday, hours after 10 coal miners from the Hazara Shia community, who were killed brutally in an attack on January 3, were laid to rest at the city's Hazara Town cemetery.