Trader killed during kidnapping bid

Man guns down wife, mother-in-law in Pishin.

QUETTA:

There was no respite for Balochistan on Tuesday either as street crimes, killings and protests continued in the increasingly volatile province.

Four people died in separate incidents of attempted kidnapping for ransom, a domestic feud and honour killing, while  the body of a missing person was found in Quetta.

In the first incident of the day, a well-known trader of Quetta was shot dead by armed men in a kidnapping bid on Mission Road.

A day earlier, Chief Minister Nawab Aslam Raisani had taken notice of increasing incidents of kidnapping for ransom and street crimes in the provincial capital by transferring Quetta Police Deputy Inspector General (DIG) Nazeer Kurd. He was asked to report to the inspector general police (IGP) of Balochistan and has been replaced by Qazi Wahid as the new DIG operations Quetta.

The deceased, Zohaib Bora – owner of Mirage Hall and a shop in Quetta – was on his way from his shop when armed men in a car intercepted him on Mission Road. He reportedly resisted, upon which the bandits opened fire, killing him instantly. “The victim was accompanied by his son who went unhurt in the attack,” eyewitnesses told The Express Tribune.

The body was shifted to Sademan Hospital for autopsy and handed over to his family after legal formalities.

While the assailants escaped, all the shops and commercial establishments in the area were closed down. The shopkeepers burnt tyres on Mission Road, disrupting the flow of traffic in order to lodge their protest.

Police have arrested a suspect from Kandahari Bazaar and impounded a car in the case.

Pishin killings

Meanwhile, sources revealed that a man gunned down his wife and mother-in-law in Pishin district on Tuesday. The man identified as Mohammad Afzal was a resident of Qilli Tarata and he reportedly opened fire killing his wife Javeria and mother-in-law Bibi Feroza.

The victims received multiple bullet wounds in their upper torso and died on the spot. The assailant fled from the crime scene at his residence in Killi Tarth. “A domestic dispute caused this tragedy. Police have launched a manhunt in the area,” a police official told The Express Tribune.

The official added that a case had been registered and investigations were under way.

‘Karokari’

In another incident, a man identified as Raja Khan Abro was shot dead in Bagh Tehsil of Bolan district on the pretext of karokari (honour killing).

The accused, Jara Khan, opened fire on Abro and fled. The body was shifted to a nearby state-run hospital for autopsy and later handed over to the family.

Body found

Meanwhile, police found a body in Khudaidad Road in Quetta. Although the motive behind the kidnapping and killing could not be ascertained, the deceased was identified as Abdul Wahid Durrani. “It is a five-day-old corpse with multiple marks of torture,” the police said.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 22^nd, 2012.