QUETTA, Dec 20: Traders in Pishin observed a strike on Tuesday against abolition of Levies system in the area. All business centres and shops in the city remained closed in response to a call given by the People’s Party Parliamentarians, both factions of the Pakistan Muslim League, the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal, the Pukhtunkhwa Milli Awami Party, the Awami National Party and the Anjuman-i-Tajiran.

At a press conference here, provincial Ministers Maulana Abdul Bari, Syed Mitiullah Agha and Maulana Abdul Siddique of the MMA and Senator Malik Sarwar Khan Kakar of the ruling PML opposed the merger of the Levies into police and said the government should withdraw the decision. The ministers said the matter would be raised in the cabinet.

They said a delegation of parliament members and nazims would meet President Pervez Musharraf and urge him to review the decision.