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09-01-2021
By SJA Jafri + Bureau Report + Agencies
MACH/ QUETTA/ ISLAMABAD/ LAHORE/ PEWHAWAR/ KARACHI: In a late night development, much to the relief of citizens across Pakistan that had been waiting to see a speedy redressal of the grievances of the Hazara community, it was announced that the 10 coal miners who were massacred by terrorists six days ago will be buried.
National Assembly Deputy Speaker Qasim Suri said that “right after the burial”, Prime Minister Imran Khan will leave for Quetta and will be accompanied by Chief of Army Staff Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa.
Minister for Maritime Affairs Ali Haider Zaidi who had been spearheading 
talks in Quetta on behalf of the government said such incidences of violence must now come to an end. “We are making amends for the last 70 years,” he said.
Zaidi said that a written agreement had been reached with the Shuhda Action Committee. “No such written accord has ever been struck before with any other government,” he remarked.
“The demands put before us were difficult,” said Zaidi, adding that the “officers that must be removed have been decided”.
The minister said that if governance in Pakistan “had not been so poor, poverty like this would not have existed”.
“People would not have been massacred like this,” he said, adding: “Foreign elements wish to create sectarian division in Pakistan.”
Zaidi also announced scholarships on behalf of his ministry for the children of all the victims.
With the agreement reached, the sit-in by the families of the victims of the massacre, which had been staged for the past six days in freezing cold temperatures, came to an end and the bodies were carried away to be buried.
Chief Minister Balochistan thanks families for agreeing to burial
Chief Minister Balochistan Jam Kamal Khan thanked the mourning families for agreeing to bury their loved ones.
“We will try our utmost to serve you better,” he said, adding that the system that does not have justice as a foundation does not prosper.
“You have honoured us and Balochistan by agreeing to our request (for the burial of the slain miners),” Jam Kamal said.
The chief minister said that this should be a learning lesson for the rulers of the country, adding that the demands met today should have been met without this sit-in.
“It shouldn’t be so that a sit-in takes place; every government should meet these requirements,” he said.
Concluding his address, the chief minister apologized to the protesters, saying that he was sorry for the inconvenience caused to them. He added that he “felt no shame in apologizing to his people.”
Sit-ins come to an end in other cities
Meanwhile, Assistant Commissioner Model Town Zeeshan Ranjha in Lahore said that the sit-in in the city had come to an end following successful talks with the protesters.
Majlis-e-Wahdat-e-Muslimeen has announced it is ending the sit-in from Chungi Amar Sadhu, Ranjha announced.
A similar announcement by the MWM was made in Karachi for the protest held in Numaish Chowrangi, paving the way for protests in nearly 30 different points in the city to also come to an end.
Protesters gathered at D-Chowk in Islamabad also dispersed.
The incident
Ten colliers were killed and four others were seriously injured on Sunday after armed men attacked them at a coal field in Balochistan’s Bolan district.
The coal miners, according to police, were taken to nearby mountains where they were shot.
According to sources, the 10 miners were kidnapped before dawn on Sunday as they slept near the remote coal mine in the southwestern mountainous Machh area, 60 kilometers southeast of Quetta city, local government official Abid Saleem said.
Security officials who did not want to be named told media the attackers first separated the miners before tying their hands and feet and taking them into 
the hills to kill them. Most were shot, however some were beheaded, said officials who did not want to be named.
Officials on Monday clarified ten people had died in the attack, revising a previous death toll of 11, sources reported.
The militant group Daesh claimed the attack, according to SITE Intelligence, which monitors militant activities worldwide.
Meanwhile, sit-ins being held across the country in solidarity with the victims of the Machh tragedy have been called off following successful talks between the government and the protesters encamped in Quetta.
In a late night development, federal minister Ali Zaidi had announced that there had been a breakthrough in talks between the government and the heirs of the victims, following which the latter had given permission for the slain men to be given a burial.
Zaidi said it had accepted all demands put forth by the protesters, while Deputy Speaker of the National Assembly Qasim Suri promised that the prime minister and the army chief would be visiting the protesters to pay their respects and express their condolences as soon as the burials were completed.
Leader of the Shuhada Action Committee Agha Raza said on the occasion that the protests had been organised for the sake of the heirs of the deceased, and were now being called off with their consent.
He said the slain men would be buried with solemnity at 10am on Saturday (today).
Issuing a call to protesters across the country who had organised sit-ins in solidarity with the victims of the Machh tragedy, he said that all demands put forth had been accepted by the government and all protests should therefore be wrapped up peacefully.
The Hazara community had been protesting for six days in Quetta over the brutal murder of 10 coalminers in Balochistan’s Machh town last Saturday.
In solidarity with the Hazaras, protests and sit-ins were also being held in various towns and cities across the country, including Karachi, Lahore, Islamabad and Peshawar.
In Karachi, protesters had encamped in more than 30 places over the last three days.
After the late-night breakthrough, however, calls were issued to Karachi protesters to disband peacefully.
The Majlis Wahdat-e-Muslimeen issued the call to end sit-ins in various areas of the city, following which the protesters started peacefully departing the main sit-in organised at Numaish Chowrangi.
Reports from elsewhere in the city suggested that sit-ins were being wrapped up in other areas as well.
Similar calls were issued in Lahore, Islamabad, Peshawar and other cities as well.
Reports from Lahore said that protests on Mall Road, Chungi Amar Sadhu, Thokar Niaz Baig, Multan Road and Imamia Colony had been wrapped up and that all roads had been reopened for traffic.
In Islamabad too, the Majlis Wahdat-e-Muslimeen called off the protest in D-Chowk, following which the protesters disbanded peacefully.
