At least 11 coal miners shot dead in Balochistan's Mach area after being kidnapped

[RedwoodOriginal]

I don't think that is a heinous statement, especially when taken in context:

"We have accepted all of their demands. [But] one of their demands is that the dead will be buried when the premier visits. I have sent them a message that when all of your demands have been accepted [...] you don't blackmail the prime minister of any country like this.

"Anyone will blackmail the prime minister then," he said, adding that this included a "band of crooks" in apparent reference to the Pakistan Democratic Movement. "This blackmail has also been ongoing for two-and-a-half years."

He's referring to some political group called the Pakistan Democratic Movement who it would seem are using the tragedy to further their own agenda whatever that may be. That is what I would call heinous, especially if they are getting backed from abroad.

LOL I guess you are also part of the PTI media spin team.

He was absolutely addressing the protestors when he called them blackmailers because he told them to bury the bodies in the same speech. He made the second line of comments today after learning about the ire of the public. And all these comments do is show the kind of ego he has. That he would sooner spin the comments then be made to apologize.

 

[Cpt. Rishwat]

LOL I guess you are also part of the PTI media spin team.

He was absolutely addressing the protestors when he called them blackmailers because he told them to bury the bodies in the same speech. He made the second line of comments today after learning about the ire of the public. And all these comments do is show the kind of ego he has. That he would sooner spin the comments then be made to apologize.

I think spin would be calling those remarks heinous. The bodies should have been buried rather than used as political footballs. He was right in that, not really sure what you find so heinous about it. At worst you could say he could have shown more sympathy, but tbh leaving dead bodies of loved ones on the road as a form of protest is hard to fathom for many of us.

 

[Bewal Express]

LOL I guess you are also part of the PTI media spin team.

He was absolutely addressing the protestors when he called them blackmailers because he told them to bury the bodies in the same speech. He made the second line of comments today after learning about the ire of the public. And all these comments do is show the kind of ego he has. That he would sooner spin the comments then be made to apologize.

He was right not to go when they demanded that he go, it would create a terrible precedence. If he didn't go at all then he should have resigned.

 

[IMMY69]

LOL I guess you are also part of the PTI media spin team.

He was absolutely addressing the protestors when he called them blackmailers because he told them to bury the bodies in the same speech. He made the second line of comments today after learning about the ire of the public. And all these comments do is show the kind of ego he has. That he would sooner spin the comments then be made to apologize.

Not sure about this.
I also thought he was referring to the stupid corrupt opposition group.

 

[IMMY69]

The opposition are **** and I think it's too late for their supporters who are now equally ****

 

[RedwoodOriginal]

I think spin would be calling those remarks heinous. The bodies should have been buried rather than used as political footballs. He was right in that, not really sure what you find so heinous about it. At worst you could say he could have shown more sympathy, but tbh leaving dead bodies of loved ones on the road as a form of protest is hard to fathom for many of us.

I consider the remarks heinous. That's just my opinion. Whether you consider them heinous or not does not affect me.

I hate saying this repeatedly but this is not the first time this has happened. The Hazara are continually attacked and have made this demand repeatedly from numerous govts. only for the state to pay lip-service and do nothing. If anything it was the state that forced them to take such extreme measures.

 

[RedwoodOriginal]

He was right not to go when they demanded that he go, it would create a terrible precedence. If he didn't go at all then he should have resigned.

Lol I think IK has set plenty of precedents when it comes to being spineless beginning with his decision to remove Atif Mian from the Economic Advisory Council. He has appeased the hardline TLP extremists time and time again.

If anything this would have reflected well on his public image. But instead the the one time he decided to show some spine was against a grieving minority group.

 

[Bewal Express]

Lol I think IK has set plenty of precedents when it comes to being spineless beginning with his decision to remove Atif Mian from the Economic Advisory Council. He has appeased the hardline TLP extremists time and time again.

If anything this would have reflected well on his public image. But instead the the one time he decided to show some spine was against a grieving minority group.

Interesting you keep mentioning Atif Mian, any reason. We also had another poster that kept mentioning him.

 

[RedwoodOriginal]

Interesting you keep mentioning Atif Mian, any reason. We also had another poster that kept mentioning him.

No idea what you are trying to insinuate. But the reason I am mentioning him is because his removal was the first in a long line of spineless actions by the PM and his government. Others included banning the movie Zindagi Tamasha before it was even released just because the extremists said so. The latest one was the government bowing down to TLP's demand when they hijacked the capital a few months ago.

 

[Bewal Express]

No idea what you are trying to insinuate. But the reason I am mentioning him is because his removal was the first in a long line of spineless actions by the PM and his government. Others included banning the movie Zindagi Tamasha before it was even released just because the extremists said so. The latest one was the government bowing down to TLP's demand when they hijacked the capital a few months ago.

Your right IK is the leader in the history of the World who has backtracked, no one else has ever taken a U turn, just him. Thanks

 

[saeedhk]

He was right not to go when they demanded that he go, it would create a terrible precedence. If he didn't go at all then he should have resigned.

Why didn’t he show such macho spine when confronted by Rizvi and his ilk? Do you just 45 days ago, IK bent over backwards after Rizvi marched to Islamabad. All demands of Rizvi were accepted within hours. Why did Immy bow to mullah pressure and kept mosques open last year when all other Muslim countries closed their mosques? Why did he bow to oil, wheat and sugar mafia? The precedence has been there already. His 2-year rule has been full of bending over backwards!

 

[RedwoodOriginal]

Your right IK is the leader in the history of the World who has backtracked, no one else has ever taken a U turn, just him. Thanks

Lol poor attempt at trying to justify his spineless actions, and that too by using his own words.

You are basically saying that IK is not the only spineless leader. There have been a number of spineless leaders in history. Okay. How does that absolve him of appeasing extremists?

 

[RedwoodOriginal]

Why didn’t he show such macho spine when confronted by Rizvi and his ilk? Do you just 45 days ago, IK bent over backwards after Rizvi marched to Islamabad. All demands of Rizvi were accepted within hours. Why did Immy bow to mullah pressure and kept mosques open last year when all other Muslim countries closed their mosques? Why did he bow to oil, wheat and sugar mafia? The precedence has been there already. His 2-year rule has been full of bending over backwards!

And we could look past it if it happened one time. But this has now happened for the umpteenth time. Because the mullahs know full well that the govt. is weak and will do nothing if they take the capital hostage. And unsurprisingly they were right.

 

[Bewal Express]

Lol poor attempt at trying to justify his spineless actions, and that too by using his own words.

You are basically saying that IK is not the only spineless leader. There have been a number of spineless leaders in history. Okay. How does that absolve him of appeasing extremists?

Its really sad that you use the death of poor Shia people to make your general points. I have no doubts as to your motives, whereas as before I thought you had a genuine concerns.I know it hurts you losers but IK has done more for PKs than you guys can even dream about. Get over it. His legacy will live on forever, lets see you do something even 0.0001 of what he has achieved.

 

[Bewal Express]

Why didn’t he show such macho spine when confronted by Rizvi and his ilk? Do you just 45 days ago, IK bent over backwards after Rizvi marched to Islamabad. All demands of Rizvi were accepted within hours. Why did Immy bow to mullah pressure and kept mosques open last year when all other Muslim countries closed their mosques? Why did he bow to oil, wheat and sugar mafia? The precedence has been there already. His 2-year rule has been full of bending over backwards!

According to the Nooras IK killed Rizvi. Dont tell me you don't believe after you believed what they said about black magic. And he kept the Mosques open and Alhamdulillah, the cases went down. I bet the Srivastava group forgot to tell you that. You are the guy that couldn't comment on Yadav, and we are to believe that you are PK. Lol

 

[RedwoodOriginal]

Its really sad that you use the death of poor Shia people to make your general points. I have no doubts as to your motives, whereas as before I thought you had a genuine concerns.I know it hurts you losers but IK has done more for PKs than you guys can even dream about. Get over it. His legacy will live on forever, lets see you do something even 0.0001 of what he has achieved.

Do you not see the irony in what you are saying? You were literally using the deaths of these people to make general points about Yadav, PTM, opposition yesterday. The difference is that there is actually a point to what I am saying. That Imran Khan only cares when the people blackmailing him are violent Sunni extremists because they are from a majority. Whereas grieving Hazara victims that are from a minority can be talked down to.

You can talk all you want about my motives they are pure conjecture because you don't know me. And I don't know what you think IK has done but I'll tell you it is next to zilch. Paying lip-service and making nice speeches does not constitute as doing anything. I voted for him. And all I have seen is empty promises, an economy that is in absolute shambles, an absolute failure to reign in corrupt mafias, appeasement of violent extremists, inability to bring any genuine change to Pakistan's tax collection problems, a complete and utter failure of governance at the center and in Punjab. Meanwhile unemployment, inflation have increased. And there is an endless list of reforms not undertaken.

The few successes in foreign policy have been completely overshadowed by his massive failures. And if you think he has any legacy at all as PM then you are completely delusional.

 

[Cpt. Rishwat]

No idea what you are trying to insinuate. But the reason I am mentioning him is because his removal was the first in a long line of spineless actions by the PM and his government. Others included banning the movie Zindagi Tamasha before it was even released just because the extremists said so. The latest one was the government bowing down to TLP's demand when they hijacked the capital a few months ago.

IK has said he will bow down to the Hazara demands as well, just get the bodies buried as soon as possible as per Islamic customs first.

 

[saeedhk]

Imran did not go and meet the bereaving families. He asked them to come to a university so that he can see them. Apparently, only one family showed up?

Families were told the PM would come to the sit-in or visit their houses and meet them individually but Immy decided otherwise.

This guy is a big scam.

 

[Pakpak]

Imran did not go and meet the bereaving families. He asked them to come to a university so that he can see them. Apparently, only one family showed up?

Families were told the PM would come to the sit-in or visit their houses and meet them individually but Immy decided otherwise.

This guy is a big scam.

The scam is you. Please give us the statistics for the genocide. How many killed, how many years, what total in proportion to the population.

 

[uberkoen]

The scam is you. Please give us the statistics for the genocide. How many killed, how many years, what total in proportion to the population.

Are you saying that the Hazara community is not persecuted?

 

[Pakpak]

Are you saying that the Hazara community is not persecuted?

Read this thread with my responses as it's becoming increasingly tiring repeating the same thing again and again.

 

[Pakpak]

http://www.pakpassion.net/ppforum/s...e-Shias-facing-danger-of-genocide-in-Pakistan
[MENTION=107753]uberkoen[/MENTION]

 

[Bewal Express]

Imran did not go and meet the bereaving families. He asked them to come to a university so that he can see them. Apparently, only one family showed up?

Families were told the PM would come to the sit-in or visit their houses and meet them individually but Immy decided otherwise.

This guy is a big scam.

Yes, let's put the PM at risk. Is that what you have planned along.

 

[MenInG]

Karachi, Pakistan – A prominent Afghan Shia Muslim leader has held talks with Pakistan’s foreign minister, as that country continues to reel from the brutal killing of 10 Shia coal miners in a targeted attack in the southwest earlier this month.

Karim Khalili, leader of the Afghan Hezb-e-Wahdat-e-Islami political party, met with Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi in the capital, Islamabad, on Tuesday, the Pakistani foreign office said.

High on the agenda was the continuing peace process between the Afghan government and the Afghan Taliban, with talks aimed at ending the 20-year war in Pakistan’s northwestern neighbour continuing in Qatar.

“During the meeting, views were exchanged on Pakistan-Afghanistan relations and progress in the Afghan peace process,” read a Pakistani statement on the meeting.

“Foreign Minister [Qureshi] reiterated Pakistan’s consistent support for a peaceful, stable and prosperous Afghanistan.”

Pakistan has facilitated the peace process, helping to bring the Afghan Taliban to the table first with the United States, resulting in an historic agreement between those two warring parties in February last year.

Khalili, a former vice president of Afghanistan under Hamid Karzai, is also a member of the ethnic Hazara community which was targeted in the coal mine attack in the Pakistani town of Mach on January 3.

The Hazara community on both sides of the border has suffered decades of persecution and attacks by violent sectarian groups who consider Shia Muslims to be heretics.

In Pakistan, more than 500 Hazaras have been killed in such attacks since 2014, according to the National Commission for Human Rights.

Afghan peace process
Khalili’s visit is the latest in a series of high-level contacts between the two governments on the Afghan peace process.

In November, Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan travelled to Afghanistan’s capital Kabul to hold talks with President Ashraf Ghani.

During that visit, Khan promised Pakistan would do “everything, whatever is possible” to aid the peace process.

Khalili was the chairman of the Afghan High Peace Council (HPC), a body formed by former Afghan President Karzai to lead negotiations with the Afghan Taliban that was officially dissolved in 2019.

The role of the HPC has now largely been taken by the High Council for National Reconciliation, led by former Afghan Chief Executive Abdullah Abdullah.

During Tuesday’s meeting, Pakistani Foreign Minister Qureshi repeated a Pakistani allegation of “spoilers” attempting to derail the Afghan peace process – a thinly veiled dig at regional rival India, who Islamabad accuses of sponsoring armed groups on Pakistani soil.

“The foreign minister reiterated Pakistan’s call on all sides to take measures for reduction in violence leading to ceasefire,” read the Pakistani statement.

“He also cautioned against the role of ‘spoilers’ within and outside Afghanistan, who did not wish to see return of peace in Afghanistan and the region.”

Violence has continued to rage in Afghanistan in recent weeks, despite the continuing peace talks. On Sunday, at least three people were killed in a roadside bombing in Kabul.

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/1/12/afghan-shia-leader-in-pakistan-after-killings-of-miners

 

[MenInG]

QUETTA: Thousands of miners in Balochistan have quit their jobs, while many have fled the province after insurgents killed 10 Hazara workers at a colliery last month, officials said Thursday.

Labour organisations and government officials said up to 15,000 workers had downed tools since the murder of the Hazara group, forcing around 200 mines to close and slashing production.

More than 100 mines were "still non-functional", said Abdullah Shehwani, the provincial head of coal mines.

Militant groups regularly extort protection money from colliery owners or kidnap workers for ransom. Failure to pay often results in deadly violence.

Refugees or economic migrants from Afghanistan make up a big part of the workforce -- especially from the marginalised Hazara community.

Ten Hazara miners were kidnapped by gunmen from a remote colliery in early January before being taken to nearby hills where most were shot dead, and some beheaded.

It prompted huge protests among Hazaras, who make up most of the Shiite population in Quetta.

Low pay
"Local workers ask for high pay and owners have to pay them compensation, in case of an accident," Habib Tahir, provincial chief of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, told AFP.

"Afghan refugees... work in the coal mines for low pay."

But Behroz Reiki, president of a mine owners´ association, said the current situation was also causing grave hardship for local communities.

"A closure of a coal mine means no jobs for the security guards and other employees -- those who work in other sections, including drivers, helpers and others," he said.

Atif Hussain, an official from the government´s mines department, insisted security had been beefed up.

"We have provided special security to the Hazara workers," he said, adding: "Now they move in a police escort."

Some mines had re-opened after government forces increased security, said MirDad Khel, the head of a local coal miners´ association, but many miners were still scared.

"Fifty per cent of the workers are still reluctant to return... they are still jobless," he told AFP.

"They don´t have money even for their day-to-day expenses -- even for one meal."

 

[OMB]

Seven killed in southwest pakistan coal mining disaster

Quetta, Pakistan – At least five coal miners and two rescuers have died of suffocation after a methane gas fire in the southwestern Pakistani province of Balochistan, officials say.
It was the second mine disaster in the region within a week.
The fire took place at a mine in the Tor Ghar area of Harnai district, about 170km (105 miles) west of the provincial capital Quetta, late on Monday, said government official Sohail Anwer Hashmi.

“The coal miners entered inside the mine to fill the cracks caused by [the] fire, but they died of asphyxia caused by the deadly methane gas,” Hashmi told Al Jazeera by telephone.

“The coal miners were working 1,400ft [427m] deep inside the mine when the incident [was] reported,” he said.
The seven miners’ bodies were recovered after rescue operations through the night, Hashmi said.
The accident was the second coal mine disaster in Balochistan within days, after six miners were trapped and killed in a methane gas explosion in the Marwar coalfield on Thursday.

A month earlier, four miners had been killed by an explosion inside a coal mine in Harnai.

In 2020, at least 99 coal miners and labourers were killed in 72 incidents in Balochistan, according to government data.
“Unfortunately, the poor coal miners are not well-trained to handle any emergency-like situation [and] they don’t have adequate safety equipment,” said Hashmi.
Shafqat Fayaz, chief inspector of the provincial mines department, also blamed the accident on a lack of training.
“The five coal miners entered in the mine but have forgotten to open the ventilation which filled the mine with methane gas,” he said.

“Later, two rescuers also died in attempt to extract the trapped miners.”
Balochistan, Pakistan’s largest but least populated region, is rich in minerals and natural resources such as coal, natural gas, copper, sulphur and other reserves.
The province is also Pakistan’s poorest and regularly ranks at the bottom of the country’s socioeconomic indicators on healthcare, education and population welfare.

https://www.aljazeera.com/amp/news/2021/3/16/seven-killed-in-southwest-pakistan-coal-mining-disaster?__twitter_impression=true

 

[BouncerGuy]

Prominent Balochistan businessman abducted

QUETTA: A business tycoon of Balochistan and a political leader of Pashtoonkhwa Milli Awami Party (PkMAP) Haji Naseebullah Khan Achakzai was reportedly abducted by unidentified men late on Friday night.

Sources said a group of armed men intercepted Mr Achakzai at gunpoint in the Baleli area on the outskirts of the provincial capital while he was on his way from Chaman to Quetta.

After stopping his vehicle at the Quetta-Chaman national highway, the armed men took him away in a car to an undisclosed location.

Balochistan’s caretaker minister for information, Jan Achakzai, said that social media has brought to light the disappearance of Mr Achakzai from Baleli area.

“We are investigating how this incident took place and so far we have no confirmation that it was a kidnapping incident,” Mr Achakzai said.

He added that caretaker Chief Minister Mir Ali Mardan Domki has directed the police and relevant authorities to investigate the incident.

The authorities concerned are actively looking into the matter, the caretaker information minister added.

According to the minister, he has spoken with the Balochistan inspector general of police and expressed confidence that investigators would promptly ascertain the circumstances surrounding the incident and apprehend those responsible for the kidnapping.

The Balochistan Chamber of Commerce and Industry vehemently denounced the reported abduction of Mr Achakzai, urging for his prompt and secure release.
​

Prominent Balochistan businessman abducted

Information minister says incident being investigated, no confirmation of kidnapping yet.

www.dawn.com