Another missing lawyer found slain

QUETTA: A bullet-riddled body of the missing lawyer Zaman Marri was found from Mastung, 50km from Quetta, on Monday. Marri was kidnapped by a group of armed men from Jinnah Road in Quetta, when he was returning home from his office on July 19.

The chief justice of Balochistan High Court earlier took a suo motu notice with respect to the kidnappings of lawyers Zaman Marri and Munir Ahmed Mirwani, asking the authorities for their safe and early recovery.

Ironically, no case was registered with any police station in this regard for unknown reasons, hence the chief justice had also earlier directed the filing of an FIR.

The Balochistan Bar Association (BBA) announced a province-wide boycott on Tuesday to condemn the killing, noting that lawyers across the province had been protesting against the hostage-taking of the two lawyers for the past two months.

The body was taken to Bolan Medical College (BMC) Teaching Hospital for an autopsy.

“The victim received a single bullet in his forehead which passed through”, police surgeon Dr Farooq Shah told The Express Tribune at hospital, adding that the body bore marks of violence and was 12 hours old.

Family members of Zaman Marri accused the government functionaries for the kidnappings and killings.

“If the lawyer community and political parties were sincere, they would have played their role before his murder. Now we would not let any one exercise politics,” they said.

According to official sources, 15 bullet-riddled bodies have been recovered from different areas of Balochistan since July 24.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 7^th, 2010.