Prime Minister Imran Khan arrived in Quetta on Saturday to condole with the members of Hazara community after the Machh tragedy and six-day-long sit-in, reported 24NewsHD TV channel.
Earlier, the prime minister left Islamabad for Quetta in a special flight along with two federal ministers to share the grief of Hazara community.
Interior Minister Sheikh Rasheed Ahmed and Federal Minister for Kashmir Affairs and Gilgit Baltistan Ali Amin Gandapur accompanied the premier on his journey from Islamabad to Quetta. Another Federal Minister Ali Zaidi and Special Assistant to the PM Zulfi Bukhari were already in Quetta and attended the funerals of the slain coalminers.
Imran Khan made it clear to the Hazara community leaders, who wanted the prime minister to come to Quetta before they bury their dead, that as soon as they bury their loved ones he would be on his way to Quetta.
And, on Saturday, about an hour after the burials the prime minister boarded a special plane from Islamabad’s Noor Khan Airbase bound for Quetta.
In Quetta, the Prime Minister will meet the relatives of the coalminers to express his heartfelt condolences to them.
The premier’s visit to Quetta became the talk of the town especially when opposition parties targeted Imran Khan for being heartless after his ‘blackmailers’ remarks for the sit-in protesters.
However, the government spokespersons and advisers defended the remarks and said the premier wanted to highlight those elements that were forcing the coalminers’ relatives not to bury their loved ones.
Balochistan Chief Minister Jam Kamal along with Federal Minister Ali Zaidi and PM’s aide Zulfi Bukhari succeeded in brokering an agreement with the Hazara leaders on Saturday night where protesters agreed for the burial of the bodies after the government side assured the mourners of the Prime Minister’s visit and setting up a special commission to probe the Hazara killings.
Both Ali Zaidi and Zulfi Bukhari tweeted the funeral prayer pictures through their Twitter account at Hazara Town graveyard in Quetta.