Normal life disrupted in Balochistan, 9 killed in violence

A strike called by Baloch nationalist groups to protest the murder of a top leader affected life across Pakistan's southwestern Balochistan province today even as nine persons were killed in fresh incidents of violence.

The bullet-riddled and mutilated body of Baloch Republican Party (BRP) leader Sangat Sana Baloch was found yesterday in Murgab area of Turbat, 900-km from Balochistan’s capital of Quetta.

He had been missing for the past two years. According to the Voice for Baloch Missing Persons, an organisation working to trace Baloch activists arrested without due process, Sangat Sana Baloch was reported missing in Bolan district in December 2009.

His father is currently on a hunger strike outside the Karachi Press Club.

Police said the Baloch leader's body bore marks of tortured and had more than 30 bullet wounds.

Following the discovery of the body, the BRP, Baloch National Movement and Baloch Students Organisation-Azad called for a three-day strike and 40 days of mourning to protest the killing.

The strike affected life across Balochistan today.

Businesses were closed and protests were organised in several areas, including Panjgur, Mastung, Khuzdar, Kalat, Hub, Gwadar and Makran, reports said.

In a separate development, the bodies of two men who went missing three months ago were found in Hub area, police officials said.

In Kech district, unidentified armed men shot dead seven persons at a construction site and fled, police said.