Tag: Hazara community

  • ‘They need your shoulder to cry on’: Momina Mustehsan requests PM Imran to visit Machh mourners

    ‘They need your shoulder to cry on’: Momina Mustehsan requests PM Imran to visit Machh mourners

    Pakistani singer, Momina Mustehsan has requested Prime Minister Imran Khan to visit Machh mourners.

    In a tweet addressed to PM Imran, the Baari singer wrote: “The nation mourns in solidarity with our Hazara kin.”

    “It is crucial to show solidarity at this hour – regardless of conspiracies, those responsible and those trying to politicize,” said Mustehsan, requesting PM Imran to reconsider his stance.

    “Please do not wait for them to bury their deceased, they need your shoulder to cry on,” she added.

    “Honorable Prime Minister, all eyes are on you. The entire nation is well aware of the persecutions faced by Hazara community for far too long,” said Momina further. “They are one of us and we are one of them.”

    Speaking at a ceremony in Islamabad, PM Imran had urged the protesters not to “blackmail the premier” because “anyone will be able to blackmail the PM then”, including the Pakistan Democratic Movement.

    According to the PM, the government has accepted all demands of the protesters, but their demand that they will not bury their dead unless the prime minister visits them is akin to blackmail. “If they’ll bury their deceased, I will then visit them,” said the PM.

    Earlier, Malala Yousafzai also requested the Prime Minister to visit Machh mourners.

    Meanwhile, the Oscar winner filmmaker, Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy criticised PM to give preference to Turkish filmmakers over Machh mourners.

  • PM thinks Hazara community is blackmailing him by not burying loved ones

    PM thinks Hazara community is blackmailing him by not burying loved ones

    Prime Minister Imran Khan has once again asked the Hazara protesters to bury the dead bodies of the coal miners killed in the Mach attack.

    Speaking at a ceremony in Islamabad, Imran urged the protesters not to “blackmail the premier” because “anyone will be able to blackmail the PM then”, including the Pakistan Democratic Movement.

    According to the PM, the government has accepted all demands of the protesters, but their demand that they will not bury their dead unless the prime minister visits them is akin to blackmail.

    “Anyone will blackmail the prime minister then,” he said, adding that the PDM will also use this ‘tactic’ against him. “This blackmail has also been ongoing for two-and-a-half years,” he said referring to the opposition to his government.

    The PM said he has already told the minority community that he will visit them after the burial. “I am using this platform to say that if you {Hazaras] bury them today, I will go to Quetta today to meet the families of the slain miners,” he added.

    He also termed the protesters decision of not burying the dead bodies ‘illogical’.

    PM Imran’s remarks come after Balochistan’s Shia Hazara community continued to protest for a sixth straight day in freezing temperature, refusing to bury their dead. On Sunday, 11 miners were kidnapped from their compound and killed by the armed men. The attack was claimed by the Islamic State.

    Subsequently, thousands of protesters blocked Quetta’s key western bypass, demanding that PM personally visits them and assure them of security.

    Protests are also being held in Karachi, Lahore, Islamabad against the murder of the minority group members.