QUETTA, Pakistan (AP) – Pakistan’s Prime Minister on Friday appealed against protests by the Shiite minority not to link the burial of 11 coal miners in his Hazara community, killed by the Islamic State group last week at visiting requirements for mourners.
To say that the miners would not be buried until he visited the protesters is tantamount to blackmail, said Prime Minister Imran Khan.
Since Sunday, hundreds of mourners have gathered despite the cold in Quetta, next to the miners’ coffins. They want Khan to visit them to ensure their protection.
According to Islamic tradition, burials take place as quickly as possible after death. But the Shiites continued their protest against the death of miners in the province of Balochistan, where Quetta is the provincial capital.
The protesters promised to keep the demonstration for several months if Khan did not accept his main demand. They also planned to hold a demonstration in the capital, Islamabad, where dozens of Shiites gathered on Friday night, denouncing Khan for calling the mourners blackmailers. The miners were killed on Sunday after being kidnapped near the Machh coal field, 48 kilometers (30 miles) east of Quetta.
“No premier in any country should be blackmailed in this way,” Khan said in televised comments from Islamabad.
Khan’s opposition and critics quickly punished him on social media for his comments, saying he lacked compassion for the mourners who protested for six consecutive days. Maryam Nawaz, leader of the Pakistan Muslim League opposition party, said Khan was insensitive and that his ego kept him from doing the right thing.
Khan said his government accepted all other demands from the mourners – and that he could travel to Quetta immediately after the miners buried their loved ones. But the Shias rejected Khan’s offer, saying his protest would continue until he visited them.
“We will not bury our people until Prime Minister Imran Khan comes to Quetta to see our ordeal and suffering,” said Arbab Liaquat Ali, a Shi’ite leader. Around him in protest, some of the women were blindfolded and with their hands tied behind their backs in protest.
Before coming to power in 2018, Khan, as the opposition leader, criticized prime ministers for attacks on the Hazara community and for not rushing to Quetta to offer condolences.
IS militants kidnapped and shot dead the miners on Sunday in Balochistan. The police video of their bodies revealed that the miners were blindfolded, with their hands tied behind their backs before they were shot.
The Sunni affiliate of ISIS promptly took responsibility and since then, authorities have been raiding militants’ hideouts to track down and arrest those who orchestrated the killings, although Khan insists that Pakistan’s neighboring India is behind the violence in Balochistan.