QUETTA: A senior leader of the Awami National Party (ANP), who was kidnapped on June 26, was found dead on Thursday.

Malik Obaidullah Kasi, a member of the ANP’s central committee, was kidnapped from his Killi Katter village in Kuchlak area on gunpoint. His body was found in Saranan Bazaar area of Pishin.

According to sources, the people of Saranan Bazaar area informed police about the presence of a body. A police party shifted the body to the Pishin’s district hospital where the victim was identified as Malik Obaidullah Kasi.

Officials in the hospital said that the victim was brutally tortured before he was killed as there were many wounds on his body. After legal formalities the body was handed over to the victim’s family.

Police officials said that they were investigating the case on the basis of scientific evidence. They said the people involved in the kidnapping and killing of the ANP leader would soon be arrested.

After receiving information about the incident, hundreds of ANP workers and supporters gathered at Quetta’s Almo Chowk and blocked the Airport Road by burning tyres and putting barricades on it. They pelted passing vehicles with stones. Soon all shops in the area were closed.

Police personnel reached the area and brought the situation under control after an hour.

ANP leaders Haji Asghar Ali Tareen and Amir Ali Agha said that the party leadership would hold an important meeting to discuss Mr Kasi’s murder and to decide the future line of action.

Mr Kasi was the second senior leader of ANP who was killed after being kidnapped in a span of 11 months.

Published in Dawn, August 6th, 2021