Sindh minister requests protesters to open Karachi roads

Sindh Information Minister Nasir Shah requested on Friday the protesters in Karachi to open roads as people were facing difficulties because of these blockades.

“It’s their right, they should certainly stage sit-ins but they should also keep the roads open for traffic,” the Sindh minister said. There was a shortage of oxygen [cylinders] in hospitals yesterday because the supply was suspended due to the protests, he said.

Hussain appealed to protesters to open the roads, saying that the masses share their pain and shouldn’t be made to face difficulties.

Protesters have been sitting on various roads and thoroughfares in Karachi for the last three days in protest against the killing of 10 Hazara coal miners in Balochistan’s Machh area.

Related: Imran Khan won’t be ‘blackmailed’ by Machh massacre victims’ families

The coal miners were executed by unidentified men in their sleeping room in the Machh coal field area on January 3. The attack was claimed by the Islamic State’s Wilayah Pakistan arm.

The militant group released a graphic image that showed two armed men standing next to the bodies of the coal miners.

Hazara protesters have also been staging a sit-in at a highway near Quetta for the last six days and have refused to bury their loved ones. They say they won’t bury the victims until Prime Minister Imran Khan arrives in Quetta and meets families of the slain coal miners.

PM Khan, however, says he won’t go to meet the bereaved families until they bury the slain coal miners.

Karachi traffic updates: Roads blocked, traffic jams as protests continue

“We can’t do this if you set a condition for the burial of the dead,” he remarked, while addressing an event in Islamabad Friday. “If you bury them today, then I will take a plane and come to meet you today.

“You cannot blackmail a PM like this when we have agreed to everything else,” he added.