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WORLD NEWS Thursday 7 January 2021
Pakistani Shiites continue sit-in over killing of 11 miners

By ABDUL SATTAR and MU- are taking steps to prevent
NIR AHMED such attacks in the future &
Associated Press know our neighbour is insti-
QUETTA, Pakistan (AP) — gating this sectarian terror-
Hundreds of minority Shi- ism," he said, in an appar-
ites continued a sit-in for a ent reference to archrival
fourth straight day Wednes- neighbor India.
day in southwestern Paki- "I will come again very
stan to protest the killing of soon to offer prayers and
11 Shiite Hazara coal miners condole with all the fami-
by the Islamic State group. lies personally. I will never
Despite Prime Minister Im- betray my people's trust.
ran Khan's request that Please bury your loved ones
the miners be buried, fam- so their souls find peace,"
ily members insisted they he tweeted.
would do so only when Angered over the killing,
Prime Minister Imran Khan hundreds of Hazara com-
personally visits them to as- munity members blocked
sure their protection. several roads in Karachi,
Residents and relatives be- demanding protection
gan their protest Sunday on from the government and
the outskirts of the city of People from the Shiite Hazara community chant slogans during a sit-in to protest the killing of urging authorities to arrest
Quetta after IS militants ab- coal mine workers by gunmen near the Machh coal field, in Quetta, Pakistan, Wednesday, Jan. those linked to the killings.
ducted and then shot and 6, 2021. Government officials tried
killed the miners in Baluch- Associated Press to convince them to end
istan province. their protest peacefully, of-
Six died at the scene and many times in recent years near the Machh coal field, funerals until authorities ar- ficials and police said.
five, critically wounded, by Sunni militant groups, about 48 kilometers (30 rest the killers. Shiites also held similar sit-ins
died on the way to a hos- including the Islamic State miles) east of Quetta, the Khan on Wednesday took in major cities of Pakistan's
pital. group, which quickly capital of Baluchistan. to Twitter to request that eastern Punjab province,
The Sunni IS affiliate has de- claimed responsibility after Since then, police have the Hazara community bury demanding justice and
clared war on minority Shi- the abduction and killing of been conducting raids to the coal miners and said he threatening they will ex-
ite Muslims in Pakistan and the miners. arrest the attackers. would soon visit them. pand their protest if the kill-
Afghanistan and staged Police video of the bodies Under Islamic tradition, "I want to reassure the Haz- ers are not arrested.
dozens of attacks in the revealed the miners were burials take place as quick- ara families who lost their "We want a decisive action
two counties since emerg- blindfolded and had their ly as possible after death. loved ones in a brutal ter- and the arrest of all those
ing in the region in 2014. hands tied behind their But Shiites were refusing to rorist attack in Machh that who killed our people,"
Pakistan's Hazara com- backs before being shot. bury the dead. They also I am cognizant of their suf- Daud Agha, a Shiite leader
munity has been targeted Sunday's attack took place said they would not hold fering & their demands. We told reporters in Quetta. q

Europeans press Iran to back down on uranium enrichment

BERLIN (AP) — Germany, China and Russia — have with the change of admin-
France and Britain pressed been trying to keep the ac- istrations in Washington, the
Iran on Wednesday to re- cord from collapsing. U.S. might rejoin the agree-
verse a decision to start On Monday, Iran began ment.
enriching uranium to lev- enriching uranium to levels President-elect Joe Biden
els beyond the limits of a unseen since the 2015 deal. has said he hopes to return
2015 nuclear agreement, a The decision appeared the U.S. to the deal.
move which they said "risks aimed at increasing Teh- Complicating that goal is
compromising" chances of ran's leverage during U.S. that Iran — which is seek-
diplomacy with the incom- President Donald Trump's ing relief from crippling U.S.
ing U.S. administration. waning days in office. sanctions — is now in viola-
The foreign ministers of the Iran informed the Interna- tion of most major restric-
three European nations tional Atomic Energy Agen- tions set out in the agree-
said in a joint statement cy of its plans to increase ment.
that the Iranian activity "has enrichment to 20% last The uranium enrichment
no credible civil justifica- week. Increasing enrich- move "undermines the In this photo released by the Atomic Energy Organization of
Iran, spokesman of the organization Behrouz Kamalvandi, cen-
tion." They said the enrich- ment at its underground joint commitment" made ter, briefs the media while visiting Fordo nuclear site near Qom,
ment was a clear violation Fordo facility puts Tehran a on Dec. 21 by participants south of Tehran, Iran Saturday, Nov. 9, 2019.
of the 2015 deal between technical step away from in the deal to preserve the Associated Press
Iran and six world powers weapons-grade levels of agreement, the European
and "further hollows out the 90%. ministers said in their state- "We strongly urge Iran to further reduce the space
agreement." The purpose of the deal ment Wednesday. stop enriching uranium to for effective diplomacy,"
The United States unilat- was to prevent Iran from "It also risks compromising up to 20% without delay, the ministers added.
erally withdrew from the developing a nuclear the important opportunity reverse its enrichment pro- A decision to begin enrich-
agreement in 2018, and bomb — something Tehran for a return to diplomacy gram to the limits agreed ing to 20% purity a decade
the remaining countries insists it doesn't want to do. with the incoming U.S. ad- in the (agreement) and to ago nearly triggered an Is-
that signed it with Iran — The three European powers ministration," the statement refrain from any further es- raeli strike targeting Iran's
Germany, France, Britain, have expressed hope that said. calatory steps which would nuclear facilities. q