QUETTA:
Five labourers were shot dead on Saturday by unidentified armed men in Nushki, about 150 kilometres from Quetta, in what appeared to be an incident of targeted killing, a senior official of Balochistan Levies said.
The labourers were on a lunch break at a construction site in Kisankuri, about 10 kilometres from the main Nushki bazaar, when armed men on motorbikes opened indiscriminate fire on them. All five died on the spot, while the attackers managed to escape from the scene.
“The labourers had come from Southern Punjab and were constructing a mosque in Nushki. It seems to be an incident of targeted killing,” confirmed Quetta Commissioner Naseem Lehri. “Balochistan Levies are investigating the incident,” he added.
In recent years, several people from non-Baloch ethnicities have been targeted by Balochi militants, who view them as ‘alien’ to their homeland. Several high-profile professors at colleges and universities in Balochistan have been targeted to for the same reason.
According to a local Levies official, there were six labourers present at the time of attack. However, one of them escaped unhurt as he was at a distance from the others.
The bodies were shifted to Quetta where the Balochistan Levies made arrangements to dispatch them to their ancestral towns, Lehri added.
Deputy Commissioner Dr Aslam Baloch said a search has been mounted in the area and security has been tightened at entry and exit points of the Nushki district to plug the escape routes.
No one has yet claimed responsibility for the killings. A case has been registered in the Nushki Levies thana.
Meanwhile, the bullet-riddled body of a poet of Balochi language was found in the Guna area of Turbat on Saturday, the police said.
According to the Turbat Police, Saleem Dad, who was also a school teacher, went missing on July 11 from Turbat.
“Some passers-by spotted the body on the road in the Guna area and informed the police. The victim was shot twice in the head,” police officer Latif Baloch said. The body has been shifted to the District Headquarters Hospital Turbat for an autopsy.
Saleem was a renowned Balochi poet in the Kech district which could have been the cause of kidnapping and killing, said a close relative of the poet’s.
Shutter down strike
A complete shutter down strike was observed in central Balochistan on Saturday condemning the target killing of the senior Balochistan National Party (BNP) leader Mir Juma Khan Raisani.
Armed men shot dead Raisani and three others in Gizigi area of Khuzdar when he was on his way back home after offering Friday prayers.
The strike, called by BNP, was observed in Khuzdar, Nal, Zehri, Mastung, Kalat, Wadh, Kalat, Surab, Awaran and Lasbela.
Meanwhile, BNP staged a protest demonstration in front of Quetta Press Club and raised slogans against the provincial government and law enforcement agencies.
The protesters alleged that the incumbent government and establishment are behind the killings of Baloch nationalists.
Published in The Express Tribune, July 24th, 2011.
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