THE SLAIN SONS OF BALOCHISTAN.

Yaqoob Hazara was a coal miner in Mach for over 30 years. He lived in Hazara Mohalla in Mach town until 2013, when he miraculously survived a firing incident. Such incidents had become all too common in Mach. Eventually, like most Hazaras who were once based in the mohalla, Yaqoob decided to permanently relocate with his family to Hazara Town in Quetta, some 65 kilometres away.

Even after moving, Yaqoob continued working as a coal miner in Mach, until his health allowed him to. Eventually, his young and healthy son, Sadiq, took his place.

Unfortunately, unlike his father, Sadiq was not lucky enough to escape death. Early morning on January 3, when most of his family and community were still asleep, he and nine other coal miners were brutally killed in the Mach coal field area.

Masooma, Sadiq's younger sister, heard about the killings later in the day. But used to hearing about one tragedy after the other, she tried not to think about it too much. That evening, she came across a graphic image of the butchered men on her Facebook newsfeed and saw her brother's lifeless body in it.

Persecution and injustices have continued to haunt the Hazaras, generation after generation. The sit-ins may have come to an end, but will the community ever be safe?

'It was perfectly clear that that was my brother, lying butchered in the picture,' she tells Eos. 'But even after learning this on my own, I did not believe it to be true for some time. I went numb.'

Sadiq's family was used to not hearing from him when he went to work. Gishtery, where he worked and was killed, is a mountainous area on the outskirts of Mach town. It is situated about three kilometres away from the town and there is no cellular network coverage in the mountains. As a result, coal miners are usually cut off from their families and work in isolation, spending any free time they have in their residential quarters.

Most coal miners in the region take a day off on Friday and visit their families. But Sadiq took a break only once every two weeks. He would often return to Mach before dawn. Masooma says he used to leave Quetta early out of fear of potential sectarian violence and attacks.

Sadiq and other coal miners took the Western Bypass to travel back to Mach. Earlier this month, their coffins were brought to the same road. This is where the families of the deceased protested, in sub-zero temperatures, refusing to bury the dead until the prime minister met with them.

PLEAS OF THE DEPARTED

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