DERA MURAD JAMALI: Traf­fic between Balochistan and Sindh remained suspended for four hours during a strike in Dera Murad Jamali town against the kidnapping of a businessman, Vikram Kumar Ajwani, here on Monday.

The strike call was jointly given by the Citizen Action Committee, traders and social organisations as well as political parties.

In response to the call, all main business centres, shops, markets and other establishments remained closed throughout the day.

The workers and supporters of political parties and traders blo­cked the Quetta-Sukkur National Highway by putting burning tyres and barricades and boulders on the roads, resulting in suspension of all kinds of traffic between Baloch­istan and Sindh. Due to blocked roads, commuters experienced great difficulties in the sizzling summer.

The protesters took out a rally in the town, marched on the highway and main arteries of the town and later converged in front of the press club.

Addressing the participants, JUI-F leader Abdullah Jattak, Aman Committee Chairman Mir Rahimdad Lehri, Rasheed Baloch and others strongly condemned the kidnapping incident and said that people of Nasirabad district were facing the menace of kidnapping for ransom, theft and motorcycle snatching almost every day.

They said that police and other law enforcement agencies had failed to find any clue to the kidnapped businessman despite passage of two days. They warned that if he was not recovered within the next 48 hours, the protest drive would be expanded.

Later, the Nasirabad Deputy Commissioner and DPO Zahoor Afridi reviewed the post-kidnapping scenario and decided to make all-out efforts for the early recovery of the kidnapped businessman.

Published in Dawn, May 23rd, 2017