Hazara Protest enters fifth straight day, crippled Karachi and Quetta

Hazara community and Shia groups expanded their protest sit-ins in Karachi and Quetta against the  Machh tragedy.

According to the details, eleven miners of the Shia Hazara community were brutally killed before dawn on Sunday while they were asleep near a remote coal mine in the mountainous area of Machh in Balochistan.

As the grief-stricken families in Balochistan have not buried the bodies in protest and are demanding that Prime Minister Imran Khan pay a visit to them, Shia groups, including the Majlis Wahdat-e-Muslimeen (MWM), Shia Ulema Council, Jafria Alliance, Imamia Students Organisation and Jafaria Students Organisation, and the Hazara community held sit-ins on various roads of Karachi and Quetta to express solidarity with the families.

Hundreds of men, women and children attended the protests. The protestors said they would continue their demonstrations until the demands of the relatives of the slain miners were met. The protesters said they did not want to cause any trouble to the general public but at the same time demanded that the federal government ensure the security of civilians.

Karachi Protests

According to the Karachi traffic police, the 20 locations where the sit-ins are being held include Numaish Chowrangi, Powerhouse Chowrangi, Star Gate, Malir-15, Steel Town Chowrangi, Safora, Safari Park, Abbas Town, Johar Morr, Nipa, Maskan Chowrangii, Nazimabad Chowrangi, Five Star Chowrangi, North Nazimabad, Aisha Manzil, Surjani, and North Nazimabad No.7.

As a result of the protest, the track from Capri Cinema to Gurumandir has been closed and people are advised to use Corridor 3 and the Soldier Bazaar route instead

The protests have badly affected city life, witnessing massive traffic jams. People are being advised to use alternative routes to reach their workplaces or other destinations.

The sit-ins are likely to continue until the main protest being staged by members of the Hazara community on Quetta’s Western Bypass near Hazara Town ends.

PM Imran Quetta Visit

On Wednesday, Prime Minister Imran Khan while confirming his visit to Quetta to meet the bereaved families, urged the Hazara community to bury the killed miners.

He took to and said: “I want to reassure the Hazara families who lost their loved ones in a brutal terrorist attack in Machh that I am cogniscant of their suffering and their demands.”

I share your pain & have come to you before also to stand with you in your time of suffering. I will come again very soon to offer prayers and condole with all the families personally. I will never betray my people's trust. Please bury your loved ones so their souls find peace.

— Imran Khan (@ImranKhanPTI) January 6, 2021

Imran Khan went said:

I want to reassure the Hazara families who lost their loved ones in a brutal terrorist attack in Machh that I am cogniscant of their suffering & their demands. We are taking steps to prevent such attacks in the future & know our neighbor is instigating this sectarian terrorism.

I want to reassure the Hazara families who lost their loved ones in a brutal terrorist attack in Machh that I am cogniscant of their suffering & their demands. We are taking steps to prevent such attacks in the future & know our neighbour is instigating this sectarian terrorism.

— Imran Khan (@ImranKhanPTI) January 6, 2021