Karachi [Pakistan], January 9 (ANI): Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) vice president Maryam Nawaz Sharif on Friday criticized Prime Minister Imran Khan for not visiting Shia Hazara protesting the killing of coal miners in Balochistan and for suggesting that demonstrators were “blackmail” the prime minister.
Speaking at a press conference in Karachi, Maryam said Khan had admitted today that he would not go to Quetta because of his ego and stubbornness, reported Dawn.
“The nation wants to know what problems prevent you from going and putting your hands on their heads. If it is because of obedience (tabedari), then the nation wants to know whether obedience is more important than people’s lives?” she says.
“If this is insensitivity and cruelty then tell the nation so we know not to see you in crisis and [know that] You will not come and summon innocent blackmailers, “added the PML-N leader.
Maryam called Khan’s remarks “devoid of humanity”, adding that it was a “major failure” on the part of the government that the Hazara people, who are a vulnerable population and have been targeted repeatedly in the past, are victims of incidents of terrorism. .
“When I asked them what your demands were, they said we had no demands, we just wanted [prime minister] come here and cover our wounds and assure us that something like that won’t happen again, “he said.
He further alleged that the Prime Minister had “time to watch plays and play with dogs and sunbathe on the wide lawn but did not have time to share in the sorrows and sorrows of the Hazara community”. He also appealed to the Hazara tribe to bury their loved ones, telling them “the person whose hope you hold has no heart in his chest”.
Earlier today, the prime minister was widely criticized on social media when, amid countrywide protests and increasing political pressure, he suggested that protesters “blackmail” him by refusing to bury their loved ones until he visits them, Dawn reported. .
“We have accepted all of their demands. [But] one of their demands was that the dead would be buried when the prime minister visited. I have sent them a message that when all your requests have been accepted […] You don’t blackmail the prime minister from any country like this, “Khan said on Friday while speaking at an event here.
On Sunday, unidentified gunmen stormed a coal mine in the town of Machh near Quetta, pulling ethnic Hazaras, members of Pakistan’s Shiite minority community, from their homes and shooting at them.
ISIS claimed responsibility for the attack. After the deadly attack, protests erupted in the region with the victims’ families refusing to bury the dead until the government complied with their demands.
The protesters have held several rounds of negotiations with members of the Khan cabinet, including Interior Minister Sheikh Rasheed, but to no avail.
The National Human Rights Commission estimates that more than 2,000 Hazaras – belonging to a minority sect of Shia Muslims and easily targeted because of their distinctive facial features – have been killed in targeted attacks since 2004, Al Jazeera reported.
They have been the target of shootings and mass bombings and suicide attacks, particularly in Quetta, where the majority of the country’s estimated half million Hazara population live. (ANI)