After an attack by the Islamic State in Mach, a town in Bolan district of Balochistan, left 11 Hazara coalminers dead on Sunday, another tweet from the past has come back to haunt Prime Minister Imran Khan.
In 2013, Imran had reacted to the Hazara killings by the Lashkar-e-Jhangvi by holding the state responsible for its inability to stop these killings.
“Tragic news from Quetta. Condemn Lashkar-e-Jhangiv for its genocidal campaign against Shias, especially Hazaras. Where is the state?” Imran had tweeted.
However, this time, the massacre has happened during the government of Imran Khan and except a tweet, the PM has done nothing. This has also drawn flak from the opposition that has questioned the actions taken by the government to arrest the culprits.
Senator Sherry Rehman said that despite the magnitude of this tragedy, the PM or the CM of Balochistan had not visited the families of the victims. “Our PM sat on the ground with half the cabinet members when something similar happened to the Hazaras in the past. What is PM Imran Khan waiting for?” she was quoted by The News as saying.
Meanwhile, protests in Quetta against the killings have continued. On Monday, protesters gathered with eight of the bodies in coffins and blocked a bypass on the outskirts of Quetta, demanding justice.
OLD TWEETS COME TO BITE IMRAN:
This is not the first time that old tweets of PM Imran Khan have come to haunt him.
As PM Imran reached China amid Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan’s (TLP) nationwide protests in 2018, a 2012 tweet of his, went viral. In the tweet, he had criticised the then premier, Yousaf Raza Gillani, for traveling abroad as the country “burned”.
After train accident in which 24 people were killed, the PM was also reminded of his tweet, wherein he demanded the resignation of the railways minister following a train accident. However, he didn’t ask then railways minister Sheikh Rasheed to resign even though his old tweet had gone viral at the time.
