Balochistan lawyers on Thursday boycotted court proceedings across the province to protest the killing of three layers in Karachi, the other day.

Though the courts are vacationing but the lawyers boycotted the proceedings of courts, which hear the matters of important and urgent matters. Similarly, reports reaching here from other parts from the province also suggested that the lawyers boycotted court proceedings.

Three people, including an FIA inspector, were killed in an ambush by unidentified assailants on the Mecongy Road in the provincial capital, on Tuesday night.

FIA inspector Wilayat Hussain along with his two friends was on his way to Nichari Road. When his vehicle reached the Mecongy Road, some 200 metres from the site, some unidentified armed men sprayed bullets with lethal automatic weapons on it.

Three people died of suffocation in Killi Baro area of Saryab Road in the provincial capital on Tuesday. According to official sources, the three dead have been identified as Mumtaz Ali, Kamal Khan and Bilawal, all residents of Killi Baro on Saryab Road. The sources said the men had switched on their heater at night but forgotten to turn it off before sleeping. Resultantly, gas filled the room and suffocated the men, who died of asphyxia. Their bodies were taken to the civil hospital for autopsy, and later handed over to relatives.

Local administration of Chaman has continued its efforts to clear the Quetta-Chaman highway for traffic as heavy snowfall had blocked the road on Kozak top area of Chaman disrupting all kinds of traffic on the international highway.

Assistant Commissioner, Chaman, Qilla Abdullah district, Ahmed Ali Siddiqui told that rescue work was in progress and steps were being taken on the war-footings to ensure smooth flow of traffic on the highway. He further said that people who had been trapped on the Kozhak top area following the continuous snowfall had been rescued.

A senior official of the International Committee of the Red Cross was kidnapped from the Chaman Housing Scheme here on Thursday.

“Yes, one of our health officials, Dr Khalil Diale, has been kidnapped by armed men at around 1.35pm,” said an official at the ICRC’s Quetta office.

Dr Diale was a British citizen and had been working in sub-delegation Quetta since February last year, he added.

The Quetta Electric Supply Company (QESCO) Labour Union staged a demonstration here on Wednesday to protest target killings and kidnappings in Balochistan.
The protesters chanted slogans against the government and law enforcement agencies for their failure to maintain law and order in the province. More >

A bullet-riddled body was found near Sorap Dam area of Panjgur district, some 700 kilometres from Quetta on Tuesday. According to the Balochistan Levies, some passers-by spotted the body and informed them. They shifted the body to the District Headquarters Hospital Panjgur for an autopsy. The victim was identified as Munir Ahmed, and had been missing for the last six days. “The body had bullet wounds,” sources said. The family members said that they had no enmity with anyone. Another mutilated body was found dumped in a gunny bag on Monday and had been identified as that of Muhammad Azeem Sasoli, a resident of Surab area of Kalat district. Sasoli had been missing for the last one year. Both the bodies were handed over to their relatives for burial after the legal formalities.

Quetta police have arrested gangs including policemen involved in car and bike lifting and other heinous crimes in the provincial capital.

DIG Operation Quetta Nazeer Ahmed Kurd while addressing a news conference at DIG Operation Office here on Wednesday said: “A gang including policemen snatched a car from a citizen on gunpoint but was arrested on police picket while driving away the snatched vehicle to their den.”

Five people including three children and a couple, died due to suffocation in two separate incidents in Quetta and Kuchlak some 30 kilometres away from Quetta on Sunday night. According to official sources, a couple identified as Salman and his wife Gul Khanam died of asphyxia in their house in Quetta. They had forgotten to switch off the gas heater and died due to gas suffocation.

Three children of Killi Khano area of Khuchlak, were also killed due to gas suffocation on Sunday night. The children were identified as 12-year-old Umer, his sisters

Unidentified gunmen kidnapped a British employee of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) near the Chaman Housing Scheme in Quetta on Thursday.

Police Operations Deputy Inspector General (DIG) Nazir Kurd said that Dr Khalil Ahmed Dale, a Yemen-born British national, was on his way to the office when a group of armed men intercepted his vehicle and detained him at gunpoint.