August 27, 2008	Wednesday	Sha'aban 24, 1429

QUETTA, Aug 26: A complete strike was observed across Balochistan on Tuesday on the call of Baloch nationalist parties.

The strike was observed in Quetta and all district headquarters to mark the second death anniversary of Nawab Akbar Khan Bugti.

In Quetta, trading centres and shopping plazas, commercial establishments remained closed and a partial wheel-jam strike was observed. The police arrested about a dozen workers of the Jamhoori Watan Party for forcing vegetable vendors to shut their shops near the Meezan Chowk.

Traffic on Quetta- Karachi, Quetta-Taftan and Quetta-Jacobabad routes came to a standstill in response to the strike call.

Shutter-down strikes were also observed in Nushki, Dalbandin, Mastung, Khuzdar,

Hub, Gwadar, Pasni, Panjgur, Kech, Mach, Dhadar, Harnai, Sibi, Dera Murad Jamali, Usta Mohammad and Dera Allahyar.

Talal and Aali groups of JWP, Baloch Republican Party, Balochistan National Party (Mengal), National Party, Baloch National front and Anjuman Ittehad Marri hoisted black flags on their party offices and houses to observe the death anniversary as black day.

The JWP (Aali) held a public meeting in Dera Allahyar and vowed to accomplish the mission of the party’s founder.

In a telephonic address from an unknown location, the party leaders condemned the bomb blast at a party gathering, which injured several workers.

Nawabzada Aali Bugti said: “We would not give the struggle against oppressors because of such cowardly acts”. Praising the spirit of the party workers and sympathisers, he said that despite difficulties, they remained firm in their resolve to continue the struggle against the enemies of the party’s founder. “We will not bow down before usurpers.”

The party’s senior vice president Khadim Shah, secretary general Rauf Sasoli and Mir Juma Khan Bugti also attended the meeting.