A strike was observed in most parts of Balochistan on Saturday in protest against the arrest of Ahl-e-Sunnat Wal Jamaat (ASWJ) leader Mohammad Rafiq Mengal and several other workers during a targeted operation by security forces.
The call for strike was given by the ASWJ.
According to reports, most of the trade centres were closed and traffic remained thin. In the provincial capital, markets and business centres were closed on Jinnah Road, Shahrah-e-Iqbal, Liaquat Bazaar, Bacha Khan Chowk, Saryab Road and Satellite Town. Markets were also closed in Khuzdar, Dhadhar and other main cities of the province.
Meanwhile, traders said that frequent strikes and poor law and order situation had affected their businesses adversely.
SHOOTING:
At least seven persons were injured due to firing on a rally of the ASWJ at Liaquat Bazaar, police said. Officials said that unidentified motorcyclists opened indiscriminate firing at the rally when it was passing through Liaqat Bazaar, the central commercial area of the provincial capital. The injured were shifted to Civil Hospital. The assailants managed to escape. Reacting to the incident, ASWJ activists blocked Jinnah Road.
