Kidnapping for ransom: PML-N’s Zehri laments Balochistan unrest

Provincial minister says several politicians from Balochistan will join party soon.

QUETTA:

Widespread crime in Balochistan is causing citizens to feel a looming sense of fear and insecurity, said PML-N President Balochistan chapter and Provincial Minister for Services and General Administration Nawab Sanaullah Zehri.

Kidnapping for ransom is now a widespread crime and a key security concern in the province, the party leader said while talking to the media on Saturday. “People from the Hindu community and others are being kidnapped for ransom and the masses are in distress,” he added.

While referring to increased mugging incidents in the province, Zehri said that apart from kidnappers, robbers were also a security concern for Balochistan’s people.

Zehra alleged that the some ‘influential hands’ were abetting the crime mafia in the province, owing to which it was difficult to check crime. He added that good governance was the only solution to Balochistan’s problems.

He recalled that in the past, British rulers were able to maintain law and order in the territory by ruling via offices in three cities - Jacobabad, Dera Ghazi Khan and Kalat.

Replying to a question, the minister showed optimism that a large number of parliamentarians from Balochistan would join the PML-N after assemblies complete their tenure and general elections are announced. He said that leaders of PML-Quaid and PML- Likeminded who had not challenged PML-N’s interests in the past, will be allowed to rejoin PML-N.

Zehri voiced hope that an earlier meeting between PML-N chief Nawaz Sharif and head of Balochistan National Party-Mengal (BNP-M) Sardar Akhtar Mengal would bear fruit.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 30^th, 2012.