PESHAWAR, May 4: Local gemstone traders on Wednesday blocked the Namak Mandi Road to protest against the killing of an Afghan businessman and called upon the government to ensure security, witnesses said. Witnesses and police officials told Dawn that unidentified persons came to the office of Haji Shamsur Rehman, an Afghan trader of precious stones, situated in the Subhan building at Namak Mandi earlier in the day and killed his cousin and business partner Baryalay.

Haji Rehman sent the body to Afghanistan but he did not nominate any person in the FIR lodged in the case. He told the police that Baryalay’s brothers would soon come to Peshawar from Afghanistan to nominate the killers.

Later, the gemstone traders staged a protest demonstration and blocked the main Namak Mandi Road for some time to protest against the killing.