Another BNP-M leader shot dead

Activists from the Balochistan National Party-Mengal protest outside the Quetta Press Club. PHOTO: ONLINE

QUETTA: Another leader of the Balochistan National Party-Mengal (BNP-M) was shot dead on Tuesday morning in Kalat district, some 150 kilometres from the provincial capital.

Liaquat Ali Mengal, former district president of the BNP-M, was travelling in his car to his residence when three gunmen riding on a motorcycle opened fire on his vehicle near the Government Boys School in the Moughalzai area. As a result, his car went out of control and overturned.

The BNP-M leader died on the spot, while the attackers managed to flee the scene.

Law enforcers shifted the body to a nearby hospital for autopsy. Liaquat Ali Mengal was also affiliated with a local farmers’ action committee.

Police termed the incident a case of target killing and started investigations.

Tensions gripped several areas of Kalat district following the killing as shopkeepers shuttered their shops for fear of violent protests. A large number of BNP-M supporters and growers gathered at the hospital to mourn the killing.

Meanwhile, BNP-M staged a protest demonstration outside the Quetta Press Club, where they denounced the killing of Liaquat Mengal, and shouted slogans against the government.

Speaking on the occasion, BNP-M deputy secretary-general Akhtar Hussain Lango and information secretary Agha Hassan advocate said that Mengal’s killing was a part of a campaign to eliminate the Baloch leadership. They alleged that the establishment and secret agencies had formed death squads that were carrying out target killings of Baloch leaders.

They called upon the United Nations to hold a transparent inquiry into target killings in order to unveil the culprits.

On July 14, unknown gunmen had shot dead the central secretary-general of the BNP-M, Habib Jalib Baloch, in Quetta. Justice Noor Miskanzai of the Balochistan High Court has been assigned to investigate the murder and submit a report within 15 days.

Published in The  Express Tribune, July 21^st, 2010.