Italics indicates attacks resulting in more than 40 deaths ‡ indicates attacks resulting in more than 100 deaths Underline indicates the deadliest terrorist attack/s to date
The miners were on their way to work when the gunmen ambushed and dragged them into the nearby mountains.[2]
All 11miners were blindfolded and had their hands tied behind their backs before their throats were slit. A video shows bodies of the slain miners on the floor of a village hut. The victims were members of the minorityShia community.[3]
Not long after the attack, Hazaras blocked roads and burned tires inQuetta, the capital of Balochistan province. They gathered to protest the terror attacks against their community and to demonstrate for their rights. They demanded that thePrime Minister visit them and personally assure them that justice would be served in the case of the lynched miners.[4]
A demonstration organized by theMajlis Wahdat-e-Muslimeen inKarachi continued for three days at over twenty locations in the city.[5][6] Balochistan's Shia Hazara community continued asit-in protest with the dead bodies for six straight days on Quetta's Western Bypass, refusing to bury themurdered miners.[7][8]
However, then prime minister Imran khan refused to visit them and stated that he would not be 'blackmailed' into visiting the bereaved community.[9] The former prime minister's comments drew widespread criticism by activists, opposition parties and others on social media and were slammed as inhuman, insensitive and insulting to the massacred miners.[10][11][12]
Thegovernment ordered the law enforcement agency to investigate the incident and bring the perpetrators to justice, with thenPrime MinisterImran Khan denouncing the murders as "an inhumane act of terrorism".[13][14]
TheInterior MinisterSheikh Rasheed Ahmad also visited the families of the victims and assured them that the culprits involved in the attack will be brought to justice at all costs. He expressed condolences to the families of victims and announced compensation for them.[15] The attack was also condemned byAfghanistan. TheMinistry of Foreign Affairs of Afghanistan stated that seven Afghan Hazaras were among the 11 miners who were killed.[16]
On January 9, 2021, the miners were buried atHazara Town cemetery in Quetta.[17] The same day, Imran Khan reached Quetta where he met the families of the murdered miners.[18]
Islamic State – Pakistan Province