QUETTA – Two local leaders of the Baloch Students Organisation-Azad were killed during a search operation by Frontier Corps Balochistan in Totak area of Khuzdar district, around 360kms south of Quetta on Friday. According to government officials, FC personnel conducted a house-to-house search in Totak to pick up some of BSO activists and laid siege to the area.
The sources said firing was also heard from the area, with the security personnel setting two houses on fire. They said Nadeem Baloch, BSO deputy organizer, and Yahya Baloch were killed in the firing. Sardarzada Mir Ziaur Rehman Qalandarni, resident of Khuzdar, alleged that Nadeem and Yahya were killed in firing by FC personnel and his three brothers, Atique Qalandarni, Mir Khalil, Mir Waseem and two cousins, Mir Mushtaq and Hussain Ahmed and several people were picked up by the security force.
A BSO spokesman alleged that Nadeem and Yahya were killed by FC, while 30 others, including BSO Totak organiser Aftab were taken into custody by the FC. He also alleged that security forces looted more than a dozen houses and injured women as well. Balochistan National Party President Sardar Akthar Mengal and other Baloch national parties strongly condemned the search operation and the killing of two student leaders. Meanwhile, BSO activists staged a demonstration outside the Quetta Press Club to protest the incident.
