KARACHI - Sindh Assembly on Wednesday unanimously passed clubbed resolutions to condemn the barbaric killing of 11 coal miners belonging to Hazara community and asked Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan to visit the sit-in being held by bereaved families in Quetta as per their demand.

Two separate resolutions—one was presented by Pakistan Peoples’ Party’s Syeda Shehla Raza and other by Muhammad Hussain Khan of Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P) and Arsalan Taj of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI)—were clubbed by the chair since they were identical.

Although, the demand of the PM to visit the sit-in was not incorporated in text of the resolutions but the provincial assembly members including PTI’s Parliamentary Leader Haleem Adil Sheikh asked him to go to Quetta as the protestors wanted it. 

Shehla said that 11 miners were brutally killed after being kidnapped but the PM didn’t bother to visit the sit-in despite the protestors’ repeated demands. “The PM should go to Quetta at the earliest,” she asked.  Shehla said that all men of an ill-fated family were killed and there was no one to take their bodies to the graveyard for the burials.

The PPP lawmaker said that operation was conducted during regime of the PPP on directives of then president Asif Ali Zardari and the heirs were also compensated after similar sort of incidents. “They (Hazara community) should have given proper security,” she asserted.

Muhammad Hussain Khan of MQM-P was of the view that Hazara community was being targeted since long, federal governments in the past as well as incumbent PTI-led federal government had failed to ensure protection of their lives. He demanded of the federal and Balochistan governments to pay heed to this serious issue and save the valuable human lives.

Grand Democratic Alliance’s Nusrat Sehar Abbasi said that she was short of words to speak on this tragic incident, adding that the entire assembly expressed solidarity with the bereaved families. Like other members, she also asked the PM to visit the sit-in at Quetta-Sibi Highway (Western Bypass) near the Hazara Town where the dead bodies were placed. “Prime Minister Sahib should to go to Quetta,” she said. 

The PTI’s Parliamentary Leader Haleem Adil Sheikh said that Prime Imran (PM) Khan had already made it clear that they would not let the terrorists go as they enemies of Pakistan, enemies of Islam and enemies of peace. He said that Interior Minister Sheikh Rasheed, Special Assistant to Prime Minister Zulfi Bukhari, Federal Minister for Maritimes Affairs Syed Ali Haider Zaidi had met with the protestors and listened to their demands. “But we still say, Khan Sahib (Prime Minster) should go as the bereaved families wanted him to be there,” he added.

Dr Sohrab Sarki of PPP said that Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) should join the protestors, if the PM didn’t go to Quetta. He said that innocent Hazara students were being targeted in universities, pilgrims on their way to Iran and businessmen at work places.

Sindh Information Minister Syed Nasir Hussain Shah said that implementation of National Action Plan (NAP)—which he said was halted after the PTI came into power—was need of the hour. He said that anti-Pakistan forces were behind this heinous incident. Nasir was of the view that the PM should visit the sit-in on humanitarian ground as the protestors were sitting in this extremely cold weather.

Later, the house was adjourned till Thursday (today).