Turbat killings: Heir blames economic conditions, not terrorism

Families mourn when the bodies of five more youths reach Lahore on Sunday morning.

LAHORE: Moving scenes were witnessed when the bodies of all five young men reached Lahore airport on Sunday. Most of the heir did not actually hold terrorist groups responsible for the killings, but the country’s worsening economic conditions.

The bodies of all the victims, who were also close friends, were shifted from Karachi to Lahore. The victims’ relatives and CCPO received the bodies at the Allama Iqbal International airport. Later, the bodies were shifted to their ancestral village in Gujrat.

The victims were identified as Danish Awan, 23, Qasim Awan, 19, Saqib, 18, Usman Qadeer Awan, 24, and Badar Muneer, 25.



According to the FIA, they were the people who were caught and killed by Balochistan Liberation Front, but there are so many others, who sneak into Iran successfully and then go to other countries in search of jobs.

After this gory incident, the FIA has expedited its operation and arrested a number of human traffickers. According to FIA Deputy Director Chaudhry Ahmed, there was a need to deal with the issue of unemployment.

Punjab University’s Faculty of Behavioural and Social Sciences Dean Professor Zakria Zakar also said that the government needed to introduce economic reforms on an immediate basis otherwise, the country would keep losing youths.

The professor said that most of the country’s unskilled youths faced severe financial issues. They hardly earned Rs12,000 to Rs15,000 in a month which is nothing keeping in view inflation rate. “The youths are desperate to improve their living standards which they don’t think can be possible in a country like Pakistan.”

He added that the youth of the country believed they could not achieve anything in the country because they lived in a place where their dream could never come true unless they go abroad. The professor said that the local industry was on the verge of collapse, while economic growth was still down. “It is the responsibility of the government to improve economic conditions in the country.”

Elahi lashes out at government

The blood of five more youths is on the head of the rulers because had they provided employment opportunities to them, their families would not have been mourning the deaths of their sons today.



This was stated by Pakistan Muslim League (PML-Q) senior central leader Chaudhry Parvez Elahi on Sunday.

Expressing condolence and sympathies with the parents of the youth hailing from Gujrat in a telephonic conversation, he said: “Their sorrow is our sorrow. This is an irreparable loss.”

Responding to questions from the media, Elahi said until the rulers create maximum employment opportunities in the country, people would keep leaving for better job opportunities through illegal means and would continue to fall in the hands of the agents. “There is a dire need for effective and result-oriented action against networks of agents and human smugglers who befool the youth and play with their lives to earn money,” said Elahi.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 20^th, 2017.