SWAT: Families of workers from Shangla killed in a recent coal mine accident in Quetta along withlabour organisation representatives on Friday called on the government to ensure workers’ safety in mines, transparent investigations into accidents and legal action against those responsible for negligence.
The demand was made at a press conference at the Swat Press Club by families of the deceased workers from Shangla and other mine workers led by journalist Afsarul Mulk Afghan, Pakistan Mines Workers Association president Haji Noorullah and National Labour Federation provincial president Barkat Ali Baba.
Afsarul Mulk Afghan claimed that 525 workers had been killed in different mining accidents between 1998 and 2026.
He said that no effective action had been taken against any mining company, contractor or leaseholder despite the deaths.
He said accidents occurred frequently due to a lack ofproper safety arrangements in mines.
According to him, 34 workers were killed in the recent accident in Quetta. He said the victims’ families were being given cheques of Rs400,000 by the lease company, but they were told the money was provided by the Balochistan government.
He said the workers’ representatives returned the chequesbecausethey feared that accepting the compensation could lead to the mine reopening while questions about responsibility for the accident and safety arrangements remained unresolved.
He demanded impartial investigations into mining accidents, legal action against those responsible and payment of blood money (diyat) by the leaseholders to the deceased workers’ families.
Haji Noorullah, Barkat Ali Baba, Shangla Youth’s Fazal Mabood, Idris Khan and relatives of the deceased workers Amanullah, Ikramuddin and Haider Ali also spoke at the press conference.
The speakers noted that an accident had also occurred in the same mines in 2012 and questioned why effective safety measures had not been introduced despite that earlier incident.