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| India-Pakistan | |
| Policeman killed in Pakistan riots | |
| 2009-04-09 | |
| QUETTA, Pakistan (AFP) -- Riots erupted in southwest Pakistan that left one policeman dead and three injured Thursday, as public anger boiled over following the murder of three nationalist politicians, officials said. The mutilated bodies of the dissident Baluchs, who supporters said were picked up by intelligence agents in Turbat on April 2, were found dumped in a remote location on the outskirts of the southwest town, a party official said. The victims were identified as the head of the Baluchistan National Party (BNP), Ghulam Mohammad Baloch, his deputy Lala Munir Baloch and Sher Mohammad of the Baluchistan Republican Party, according to the official. "Security agencies picked them up on April 2 and they had been missing since then," BNP spokesman Asif Baluch told reporters. The late BNP chief played an important role in helping to secure the release of kidnapped American UN official John Solecki two months after he was snatched in the Baluchistan capital Quetta, he said. Solecki was released Saturday and was purported to have been held by the little-known Baluchistan Liberation United Front. News of the killings sparked protests and violent riots in several cities across restive southwest Baluchistan province, which borders Iran and Afghanistan, and is rife with militant and sectarian violence. The riots left a policeman dead in the town of Khuzdar. "A policeman was shot dead by a mob who were damaging government buildings," senior police official Ghulam Ali Lashari told AFP. "Now the situation is under control after paramilitary forces were called in to help police restore law and order," Lashari said.
In Quetta, protesters torched six government vehicles and a UN car while police arrested up to 20 people in connection with rioting, police said. "At least five government vehicles and a UN vehicle were set on fire by the rioters," senior police official Rasool Bakhsh Rind told AFP. "Three policemen were injured when unknown people threw a hand grenade at them," Rind said. Police fired tear gas to disperse the crowds as protesters blocked roads, including the main artery linking Quetta to the southern port city of Karachi, an AFP reporter said. Governor Baluchistan Nawab Zulfiqar Magsi "strongly condemned" the incident. "It is an act of terrorism," Magsi said. Two nationalist parties of Baluchistan issued a call for a general strike on Friday and Saturday to protest the killings of the politicians, party officials said as other parties deliberated whether to join. Hundreds of people have died in insurgent violence in Baluchistan since 2004, when rebels separate from mainstream Baluch politicians rose up demanding political autonomy and a greater share of profits from natural resources. | |
| Posted by:john frum |
| #1 "Security agencies picked them up on April 2 and they had been missing since then," BNP spokesman Asif Baluch told reporters. Funny how the ISI can pick up and kill anyone they feel like but the Taliban leadership operates openly. |
| Posted by: john frum 2009-04-09 12:53 |