-PM directs FC to use all resources to nab culprits
-Interior Minister seeks report from IG
-Shibli condemns Machh reprehensible incident
-CM Jam orders inquiry
Bureau Report
QUETTA: At least 11 colliers were killed after being abducted by armed men in Mach area of Bolan district on Sunday.
According to Levies, the victims were working in the Field Coalmine in Mach when they were kidnapped by the armed assailants, who took them to a nearby hills and massacred them.
After the incident, the Levies and other law enforcement forces personnel rushed to site, cordoned off the entire area, and started search for the miscreants.
The bodies of the deceased were being shifted to Civil Hospital Quetta. The deceased were identified as Aziz, Muhammad Naseem, Anwar, Shair Muhammad, Ahmed Shah, Muhammad Sadiq, Chman Ali, Hassan Jan, Muhammad Asif, and Abdullah. Most of the victims belonged to the Hazara community.
Meanwhile, a large number of people, including relatives of the dead, blocked the National Highway with the bodies of miners. They demanded the provincial government to take all possible measures to arrest murders as soon as possible.
The traffic between Sindh and Balochistan was disrupted with a lot of vehicles were stuck on the National Highway.
Prime Minister Imran Khan has condemned the killing of eleven coal miners in Balochistan’s Machh area and directed the FC to use all resources to apprehend the culprits behind the shooting incident.
“The condemnable killing of 11 innocent coal miners in Machh Balochistan is yet another cowardly inhumane act of terrorism,” he wrote on his official Twitter handle. “I Have asked the FC to use all resources to apprehend these killers & bring them to justice. The families of the victims will not be left abandoned by the govt.”
President Dr Arif Alvi on Sunday condemned killing of 11 coal miners in Mach, Balochistan province, calling it ‘a dirty & cowardly act’.
On his twitter handle, the president reiterated resolve of the state to bring killers of this heinous act to justice.
“The killing of 11 coal miners in Mach is a dirty & cowardly act.
The state is committed to finding these heinous killers who must be flushed out, exposed from underneath every slimy stone & snake pit and punished,” the president tweeted.
According to a press release, the president while expressing his deep grief and sorrow over the incident, conveyed sympathies to the bereaved families.The president prayed for the eternal peace of the innocent miners.
He also prayed for the bereaved families to bear the losses with fortitude.
Minister for Human Rights Shireen Mazari tweeted: “Terrorists now target poor coal miners in Machh Balochistan – murdering 11 & seriously wounding 4. Indian funded terrorists in Balochistan getting more desperate as development comes to province. Socio econ empowerment & Insaf for the Baloch are how we will defeat the terrorists.”
The coal miners were going to their work place when unidentified armed men opened fire on them, the law enforcement agencies sources said. The injured and dead bodies were shifted to a hospital in Machh.
Minister for Interior Sheikh Rasheed Ahmed while strongly condemning killing of innocent coal miners in Mach (Balochistan), sought report into the tragic incident from Inspector General Balochistan.
In a tweet, the Interior Minister said terrorists would not succeed in their nefarious designs and those involved in this heinous act deserved no leniency.
He said such cowardly and inhumane act could not bow down our nation’s commitment. The minister prayed for the eternal peace of the martyrs and early recovery of the injured into the incident.
Meanwhile, the Interior Minister also visited home of student Usama Satti who was killed on Saturday in tragic police incident.
He condoled with the family members of Usama Satti and prayed for the departed soul.The minister said that stern punishment would be given to the officials involved in the incident.
Federal Minister for Information and Broadcasting Senator Shibli Faraz said that heartbreaking Machh incident of killing of miners was highly reprehensible and tragic.
Strongly condemning the incident, the minister, in a tweet, said the external enemy in its attempt to destabilize Pakistan was constantly orchestrating such subversive activities on its soil.
Unfortunately, the political elements rejected by the people, consciously or unconsciously, were also becoming a tool of external enemies by spreading chaos and anarchy in the country, he added. The enemies, however, would fail in their nefarious designs against Pakistan, the minister said.
Chief Minister Balochistan Jam Kamal Khan also condemned the killing of eleven coal miners in Balochistan’s Machh area and directed authorities concerned to fully investigate the tragic incident.
“All authorities are ordered to fully investigate and take action on splinji tragic incident to bring perpetrators to justice,” he wrote in a tweet.
