SUKKUR/LARKANA: All rice mills in Sindh and Balochistan remained closed and no trading in the commodity took place on Saturday in response to a strike call given by the Sindh Balochistan Rice Millers and Traders Association (SBRMTA) against alleged kidnapping of its central leader, Haji Mohammed Nawaz Mengal.

Mr Mengal, 55, was kidnapped while he was returning home after buying some medicines from a store in Dera Murad Jamali on Wednesday, general secretary of the association Asad Tunio said. He said the kidnappers intercepted the motorcycle he was riding and forced him to travel along with them by his own two-wheeler, he said giving details of the incident.

Mr Tunio said that at some distance, the outlaws forced him into a waiting car, which took the victim and kidnappers to some unknown place. Since then, he added, the whereabouts of Haji Nawaz Mengal were not known.

All rice mills in Jacobabad, Thull, Kandhkot, Kashmore, Garhi Khero, Shikarpur, Shahdadkot, Lalu Raunk, Wagan, Naseerabad, Qambar, Ratodero, Usta Mohammed and other towns of Sindh and Balochistan remained closed. No trading in rice commenced at any place in the two provinces, leaders of the association said.

The association gave a strike call for Saturday in Sindh and Balochistan over failure of the police to provide protection to industrialists and other segments of the business and trader communities. It regretted that police also failed to locate the victim and his kidnappers 48 hours after the incident.

Hundreds of employees, work-charge workers and labourers associated with the mills stayed away from their workplaces owing to the closure.

In several towns, millers organised rallies for the safe and early recovery of Mr Mengal.

In Thull town, participants in a similar rally held a sit-in on Thull-Jacobabad road. A leader of the association, Abdul Aziz Abro, spoke to them and urged the authorities concerned to take measures for the immediate recovery of the miller.

He also appealed to the Supreme Court to take suo motu notice of the incident as the kidnapping had sown fear among industrialists in the two provinces.

He pointed out that rice millers were contributing heavily to the national exchequer in terms of taxes and also contributing to curtailment of unemployment. They deserved to be protected from falling prey to such anti-social elements, he added.

Mr Abro said that the protest could be intensified by organising sit-ins on the National Highway if police failed to recover Haji Nawaz Mengal at the earliest.

Published in Dawn, November 11th, 2018