QUETTA, Pakistan (AP) – Hundreds of Pakistani Shiites gathered on Saturday to bury 11 coal miners from the Hazara minority community, killed by the Islamic State group, ending a week of protests seeking to highlight the plight of the community.
Protesters demonstrated after the militant group captured and shot miners last Sunday in Machh, an area about 50 kilometers (30 miles) east of Quetta, the capital of Pakistan’s troubled Balochistan province.
Prime Minister Imran Khan arrived in Quetta on Saturday afternoon and is expected to meet with a delegation of bereaved people and Shi’ite leaders, according to his office. Khan’s visit came after Shi’ite protesters across the country – who blocked roads in large cities – demanded that he visit the mourning minority community in Quetta and ensure his protection.
On Friday, Khan appealed to protesters not to link the coal miners’ burial to his visit to Quetta, promising that he would visit her later. According to Islamic tradition, burials take place as quickly as possible after death.
“No premier in any country should be blackmailed in this way,” Khan said in television comments.
Dozens of Shiites gathered Friday night in the capital, Islamabad, denouncing Khan for calling the mourners blackmailers.
The prime minister sent a group of ministers and senior officials to negotiate with the Hazara community, prompting the mourners to agree to a funeral.
Violent attacks against Shiites and other minority religious groups continue to be a problem in Pakistan, the majority Sunni.
Before coming to power in 2018, Khan used to criticize Pakistan’s leaders for not doing more to prevent attacks on the minority Hazara community and for not rushing to Quetta to offer condolences after similar attacks.
IS militants kidnapped, then shot and killed the miners on Sunday in Balochistan. The police video of their bodies revealed that the miners were blindfolded and had their hands tied behind their backs before they were shot.
The IS affiliate promptly took responsibility, and authorities have broken into militants’ hideouts to track down and arrest those who orchestrated the deaths. Khan insisted that Pakistan’s neighbor India is behind the violence in Balochistan.