Sindh Information Minister Nasir Shah requested the protesters on Friday 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’sMachh area. 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.
