Prime Minister Imran Khan has once again asked the Hazara protesters to bury the dead bodies of the coal miners killed in the Mach attack.
Speaking at a ceremony in Islamabad, Imran urged the protesters not to “blackmail the premier” because “anyone will be able to blackmail the PM then”, including the Pakistan Democratic Movement.
According to the PM, the government has accepted all demands of the protesters, but their demand that they will not bury their dead unless the prime minister visits them is akin to blackmail.
“Anyone will blackmail the prime minister then,” he said, adding that the PDM will also use this ‘tactic’ against him. “This blackmail has also been ongoing for two-and-a-half years,” he said referring to the opposition to his government.
The PM said he has already told the minority community that he will visit them after the burial. “I am using this platform to say that if you {Hazaras] bury them today, I will go to Quetta today to meet the families of the slain miners,” he added.
He also termed the protesters decision of not burying the dead bodies ‘illogical’.
PM Imran’s remarks come after Balochistan’s Shia Hazara community continued to protest for a sixth straight day in freezing temperature, refusing to bury their dead. On Sunday, 11 miners were kidnapped from their compound and killed by the armed men. The attack was claimed by the Islamic State.
Subsequently, thousands of protesters blocked Quetta’s key western bypass, demanding that PM personally visits them and assure them of security.
Protests are also being held in Karachi, Lahore, Islamabad against the murder of the minority group members.
