Thousands of miners in Balochistan have quit their jobs, while many have fled the province after insurgents killed 10 Hazara workers at a colliery last month, officials said on Thursday.
Labor organisations and government officials said up to 15,000 workers had downed tools since the murder of the Hazara group, forcing around 200 mines to close and slashing production.
More than 100 mines were “still non-functional”, said Abdullah Shehwani, the provincial head of coal mines.
Militant groups regularly extort protection money from colliery owners or kidnap workers for ransom. Failure to pay often results in deadly violence.
Refugees or economic migrants from Afghanistan make up a big part of the workforce especially from the marginalised Hazara community.
Earlier, ten Hazara miners were kidnapped by gunmen from a remote colliery in January before being taken to nearby hills where most were shot dead and some beheaded.
