Worrying trend: Hindu trader abducted from Quetta
Members of his community stage protest.
QUETTA:
Basant Lal, a paint shop owner, was on his way home to Saryab Road from Liaquat Bazaar on Friday, when a group of armed men intercepted him, shoved him into a vehicle and sped off.
An FIR was registered at the Saryab police station against unidentified persons.
“The police are investigating the matter and cannot comment on the motive behind the abduction,” said Saryab SHO Raja Qayyum. However, he added, it will be premature to term the case “kidnapping for ransom”.
In a separate incident the same day, armed men robbed several shops in Dadhar. Protesting against the spate of kidnappings and robberies targeting their community, Hindu traders observed a complete shutter-down strike in Dadhar, the district headquarters of Kechi District.
At least four Hindu traders have been kidnapped in the past 30 days, Balochistan Minorities Minister Basant Lal Gulshan told The Express Tribune, adding, “Hindu traders are soft targets and the criminals believe they are easy ransom targets.”
However, the government is trying to prevent similar occurrences in the future, he said.
Several Hindu traders were set free after they paid off ransom to their kidnappers.
A sub-engineer from the Hindu community was recently freed by his captors after his family members paid Rs600,000 in ransom. “The local administration and influential people of the province are patronising the kidnappers. I was in the captivity of kidnappers for over two weeks. The area wasn’t far from my hometown in Jaffarabad district,” he said.
The Hindu community is helpless before the influential people. “Almost all well-off Hindu traders are either kidnapped or are forced to pay extortion money.”
Asked whether any Hindu trader had been recovered by law enforcing agencies, Gulshan simply put up a ‘do-not-know’ front.
Published in The Express Tribune, November 5th, 2011.
Basant Lal, a paint shop owner, was on his way home to Saryab Road from Liaquat Bazaar on Friday, when a group of armed men intercepted him, shoved him into a vehicle and sped off.
An FIR was registered at the Saryab police station against unidentified persons.
“The police are investigating the matter and cannot comment on the motive behind the abduction,” said Saryab SHO Raja Qayyum. However, he added, it will be premature to term the case “kidnapping for ransom”.
In a separate incident the same day, armed men robbed several shops in Dadhar. Protesting against the spate of kidnappings and robberies targeting their community, Hindu traders observed a complete shutter-down strike in Dadhar, the district headquarters of Kechi District.
At least four Hindu traders have been kidnapped in the past 30 days, Balochistan Minorities Minister Basant Lal Gulshan told The Express Tribune, adding, “Hindu traders are soft targets and the criminals believe they are easy ransom targets.”
However, the government is trying to prevent similar occurrences in the future, he said.
Several Hindu traders were set free after they paid off ransom to their kidnappers.
A sub-engineer from the Hindu community was recently freed by his captors after his family members paid Rs600,000 in ransom. “The local administration and influential people of the province are patronising the kidnappers. I was in the captivity of kidnappers for over two weeks. The area wasn’t far from my hometown in Jaffarabad district,” he said.
The Hindu community is helpless before the influential people. “Almost all well-off Hindu traders are either kidnapped or are forced to pay extortion money.”
Asked whether any Hindu trader had been recovered by law enforcing agencies, Gulshan simply put up a ‘do-not-know’ front.
Published in The Express Tribune, November 5th, 2011.