Machh tragedy: Sheikh Rashid shares demands of Hazara protesters with PM Imran Khan

• Interior Minister Sheikh Rashid apprises PM about Quetta visit after assuring by Hazaras that he will communicate their demands to the premier
• Relatives of slain miners refuse to end road blockade till PM Imran Khan visits Quetta
• The protesters want the Balochistan government to resign

QUETTA/ ISLAMABAD: Interior Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed called on Prime Minister Imran Khan in Islamabad today (Tuesday) to brief the premier over his Quetta visit a day earlier.

The minister visited Quetta on the special instructions of the Prime Minister and met the Hazara community.

Thousands of people protesting the brutal kidnapping and execution of 11 coal miners in Balochistan's Machh have refused to call off their sit-in till Prime Minister Imran Khan visits Quetta.

The miners were Shia Hazaras. Their families are protesting on the Quetta-Sibi highway since Sunday. They want justice.

"Prime Minister Imran Khan himself should visit Quetta and look into all these issues," the leader of the Hazaras said Monday.

The terror attack on the miners has been claimed by the Islamic State.

Read more: 11 killed as armed men attack coal miners at Machh

Up to 2,500 protesters staged a sit-in, gathered with eight bodies in coffins and blocked a bypass on the outskirts of Quetta, demanding justice Monday. "We will not end our protest until the arrest of all the assassins," Balochistan Shia Conference chief Agha Daud said

"The latest wave of killings will spread to other cities including Quetta if a decisive action is not taken at this stage," he said.

The protesting relatives of miners demanded resignation of the Balochistan government.

Ready to accept all demands except Balochistan govt resignation: Sheikh Rashid

Interior Minister Sheikh Rasheed Ahmed reached Quetta Monday evening and joined a sit-in organised by the Hazaras and families of the deceased coal miners a day after the Machh massacre.

He said he is ready to accept all the demands of the Hazara people, except the resignation of the Balochistan government.

Read more: Funeral of 11 Balochistan coal miners executed in Machh terror attack today

"Today or tomorrow morning I will inform the Prime Minister about the message of the protesters," Rashid said.

Rashid had announced compensation amounting to Rs2.5 million for each family of coal mine workers.

“Each family of the martyrs will be given Rs1 million by the Prime Minister, while Rs1.5 million by the chief minister of Balochistan,” Rashid told the media.

He reportedly flew to Quetta on the instructions of PM Khan. The minister was accompanied by National Assembly Deputy Speaker Qasim Khan Suri and Balochistan's chief secretary.

"On Prime Minister Imran Khan's special instructions, I arrived in Quetta alongside Federal Interior Minister Sheikh Rasheed to share the grief of the families of the martyrs of the Machh tragedy, assure our Hazara community of immediate justice, and to review the security situation," Suri wrote on Twitter.

CTD books unidentified suspects

Meanwhile, the Balochistan Police Counter-Terrorism Department (CTD) registered a case under Section 7 of the Anti-terrorism Act 1997 (ATA) against unidentified suspects at the CTD's Naseerabad station.

Read more: Sheikh Rashid arrives in Quetta, holds high-level meeting

As per the CTD, the case was lodged on behalf of Machh station house officer (SHO) some 30 hours after the terror incident. It also included Sections 302, 147, 148, and 149 among the clauses.