Eleven coal miners belonging to the minority Hazara community in Balochistan were first kidnapped at gunpoint, blindfolded, and shot at mercilessly even as their hands were tied behind their back. The brutality of the crime committed at the Mach coal field area in the mountainous Bolan district during the early hours of Sunday has drawn worldwide condemnation. The terror group Islamic State has claimed responsibility for the killing.
The victims were identified as Aziz Raza, Mohammad Nazim, Abdul Rahim, Anwar Ali, Sher Mohammad, Ahmed Shah, Muhammad Sadiq, Chaman Ali, Hussain Jan, Asif Ali and Abdullah, all residents of Quetta’s Hazara Town. Sources said they were staying at a mud room near the mine where they worked in Mach Town, which is known for coal mining.
Local reports say that terrorists reached the outskirts of Mach town in the wee hours of Sunday and barged into the mud room, where the workers were sleeping. They held all the miners at gunpoint, tied their hands behind their back and blindfolded them before killing them. The throats of all the victims had been slit and three of them also sustained bullet wounds. Bodies of those three workers were found outside the room, while others were found lying in a pool of blood in their room.
Local Hazara leaders have accused General Bajwa and Pakistan’s military of orchestrating a Hazara genocide.
Families demand thorough investigation
As soon as the news of the brutal attack on innocent miners spread, a large number of people, including women, from the Hazara community took to the streets near Hazara town. They blocked traffic on the western bypass by placing torched tyres and rocks on it. At the same time, people from the Hazara community working at the coal mines blocked traffic on the Quetta-Sukkur highway that links Quetta with Sindh.
The protesters are refusing to bury their dead until the government meets their demands and did not allow the local administration officials to shift bodies to Quetta. Hundreds of Hazaras who had gathered at the protest raised their hands in unison, chanted slogans acclaiming the sacrifice of their brethern. The protesters have demanded that the terrorists be brought to justice and that the government form an independent judicial commission to investigate the continuing attacks against Hazaras.
On Sunday, Pakistan PM Imran Khan said he had asked the Frontier Corps security force to use all resources to apprehend these killers and bring them to justice. He promised that the families of the victims will not be abandoned by the govt.
Pakistan Peoples Party chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari condemned the killing of the workers from the Hazara community and said those involved in the barbarian act must be taken to task.
After negotiations with the administration and security forces, the protesters dispersed peacefully and traffic on the western bypass was restored. The bodies were later brought to Quetta amid tight security and handed over to the relatives who shifted them to an Imambargah before their burial in Hazara graveyard on Monday.
Reports say that security forces had launched a combing search operation in the mountainous areas of Mach to trace out the terrorists involved in the killing of the coal miners.
Continuing attacks against Hazaras
The Hazaras of Balochistan are a religious minority in Pakistan who have long been persecuted for their faith, facing targeted attacks and large-scale bombings that have killed hundreds in the last two decades. The Sunni clergy of Pakistan does not recongise the faith of the Hazara’s who follow a brand of Shia faith. In the last few years, hundreds of Hazaras have been killed in either suicide bomb attacks, planted bomb blasts or target killings.
Most Hazaras in Balochistan live in Quetta, a city of about 1.1 million people that is the capital of Balochistan province. The city is home to an estimated 500,000 Hazaras, most of whom live in two heavily guarded enclaves.
The province has been troubled for some time now with terrorists and militants from sectarian and separatist groups operating in the province and carrying out attacks on security forces, installations, the Shia Hazara community members or even labourers/workers from other provinces.
Aayush Pal 
Dr. Niranjan B Poojar 
Bhagyashree Gupta