Hazara protesters end Quetta sit-in after talks with govt

The funeral prayers of the coal miners executed in Balochistan’s Machh last week have been offered, nearly a week after sit-ins by Shia Hazaras across Quetta.

The decision was announced by a representative of the Shuhuda Action Committee, Agha Raza, at the Quetta sit-in, where Balochistan Chief Minister Jam Kamal, federal Maritime Minister Ali Zaidi, National Assembly Deputy Speaker Qasim Suri and Special Assistant to the PM on Overseas Pakistanis Zulfi Bukari were present to hold talks with the protesters.

Announcing the decision to end the sit-in, Raza said the community had gathered here to protest solely on the wishes of the relatives and families of the slain miners and the decision to end the protest had also been taken after their “satisfaction”.

“God willing, we will lay our martyrs to rest with complete discipline and reverence,” Raza said, adding that all demands of the victims’ families had been agreed to by the government. He requested those holding sit-ins across the country to also end their protests.

In his address to the gathering on the occasion, CM Jam Kamal struck a particularly conciliatory tone, apologising to the Hazara community and the relatives of the miners who had braved six nights on the roads alongside the bodies of their loved ones in biting cold.

“I apologise on behalf of my government. We [the government] definitely were negligent in one way or the other and there is nothing wrong in apologising to our people, our nation,” Kamal said, thanking the mourners for agreeing to go ahead with the burials.