Pakistan opposition leaders visit slain miners’ families in Quetta

It’s been five days since the killing of Hazara miners in Pakistan by the Islamic state and families of the dead are still refusing to bury the dead.

About 2500 people are sitting on the outskirts of Quetta since Sunday, demanding that Prime Minister Imran Khan come and meet them.

However, instead of khan, Maryam Nawaz Sharif has shown up. The vice-president of Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz) (PML-N) arrrived in Quetta on Thursday afternoon with a delegation of ministers. She then went on to meet the families of the slain miners. She hugged and condoled the protesters. And urged them to bury the dead.

At the same time, she asked Imran Khan to show some humanity and come to Quetta.

“I don’t know what I can offer you because my party is not in power. Besides raising my voice, I won’t be able to do anything for you. But yes, because I am a mother and a daughter, I understand your pain. I am a sister, I understand your pain. And I want to tell Mr Imran Khan that you are a father, brother & you have a family. May God protect your children, but put them before you and try to understand this pain,” she said.

Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari, the chairman of Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) also reached Quetta a short while after Maryam Nawaz. He went straight to the protest site and met the kin of the slain coal miners. He said, in Pakistan everything had become costly, but the blood of Pakistani citizens remains inexpensive.

“We’re living in a Pakistan, where everything has become expensive, gas, electricity, food, everything. But the blood of our people remains inexpensive. The blood of our labourers,” he said.