Hazara agree to bury victims as negotiations succeed

By Muhammad YaseenPublished On 06 Jan 2023

Quetta: Negotiations between government and families of the victims of Machh killings ended successfully after mourners agreed to bury their loved ones.

The protest camp set up by families of 11 miners who were killed in Machh had entered its seventh day when Chief Minister Jam Kamal, Special Advisor Zulfi Bukhari and Federal Minister Ali Zaidi reached the site in the early hours of Saturday morning.

Organisers of the protest said at a press conference that all their demands had been accepted by the government. They thanked Prime Minister Imran Khan, federal ministers and the Chief Minister and said that burials will proceed after successful negotiations. "All notifications have been signed, we will release them on social media," adding that graves have been prepared.

11 miners belonging to the Hazara community were brutally murdered on Sunday, after which their relatives set up a protest camp. Their demands included a visit from the Premier, a condition without which they refused to bury the victims of the killing.

Earlier on Friday afternoon, Imran Khan was criticized for saying in a speech that he would not be "blackmailed" and will fly to Quetta as soon as the bodies have been laid to rest. Protests sprang up across the country, choking arteries and highways in all major cities including Islamabad, Karachi, and Lahore.