Kidnapped: Hindu trader abducted at gunpoint

QUETTA: A Hindu trader was kidnapped from Wadh Tehsil of Khuzdar district on Sunday. According to an official of Balochistan Levies, the trader was identified as Sham Lal, son of Era Nund, a resident of Khuzdar, and was on his way from Khuzdar to Karachi in a car with his family when armed men intercepted him and abducted the trader at gunpoint, leaving his family stranded. “It could be a case of kidnapping for ransom,” an official said, adding that an investigation has been launched and a case has been registered. This is the second such incident in Khuzdar within the past one month, where a Hindu trader has been kidnapped for ransom. The Hindu community in Khuzdar closed their shops after receiving the information about the kidnapping and took out a protest rally to condemn the incident.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 13^th, 2012.