Victims of Hoshap incident buried in Quetta’s New Kahan

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The family members of the victims of Hoshap incident buried their loved ones at “Shuhda-e-Balochistan” cemetery in the New Kahan area of Quetta. Scores of people from all walks of life came to participate in funeral prayers and offered their condolences and support to the families. The participants recited the Baloch national anthem and buried the children with respect and honour.

The two children were killed in Hoshap area of district Kech when Pakistani forces stationed nearby fired a mortar shell at them. It is still not clear what incentivized this move, but a special committee has been formed by the Balochistan government to probe into the incident. Two children were killed in the attack and one critically wounded.

The family members of the slain children brought the dead bodies to Turbat and sat on the Shaheed Fida Chowk for several days to protest. The deputy commissioner of district Kech pushed the protestors to negotiation a call off but to no avail. Instead of sympathizing with the protestors and complying with their demand of prosecuting the culprits – the Frontier Corps – the deputy commissioner whitewashed the incident, arguing that the blast had occurred when the children had “found a grenade near by” and started playing with it. The grenade went off, killing the two children and wounding another minor. The deputy commissioner also threw in a misogynistic slur, calling the lamenting mother of the children to stop and “let a man talk.”

After several days of hopeless protests, family members of the victims decided to move their protest to Quetta to draw the attention of the provincial government. As they were departing for the provincial capital, the district authorities intervened and offered negotiations at the last second. The family members refused and carried out their journey towards Quetta.

The protestors sat in front of the governor house in Quetta for several days, demanding justice. But the authorities turned a deaf ear to their pleas. For more than a week, the authorities refused to believe that the two kids were killed in a mortar shot.

When the protestors saw that the government was ignoring their demands, they decided to take the dead bodies to the federal capital Islamabad. It was only then that the government sent its representatives to negotiate with protestors.

A special committee was formed under the chairmanship of Zia Langove to investigate the incident and fix responsibility on the culprits. The Balochistan High Court approved the request of the protestors and suspended the deputy commissioner, assistant commissioner and sub-inspector of district Kech over the charges that they had failed to provide justice to the victims and belittled their family members.

The court designated the two children as “martyrs” and ordered the provincial government to bear the treatment expenses of the injured child. The court also approved the request for a new First Information Report (FIR) against the security forces.

The high court directed the authorities to provide security to the protestors during their stay in Quetta and safely escort them back to their hometown on their return.

The family members, finally satisfied with an empathetic response, decided to end their protest and bury the dead bodies of their children at the “Shuhda-e-Balochistan” cemetery in Quetta’s New Kahan.

SourceTBP

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