Panjgur: Hundreds of protesters blocked traffic on the Quetta-Turbat highway on Wednesday to express their outrage over police failure to arrest the killers of Dad Jan Baloch, a footballer and social worker, despite the passage of several weeks.

       He was shot dead by unidenfied men while he was playing a match.

       Members of the victim’s family, workers of political parties and members of civil society had been holding a sit-in outside the Panjgur deputy commissioner’s office for the last one week, but on Wednesday they concluded it was not enough to jolt the authorities into action and chose the Quetta-Turbat highway to register their indignation.

       They put barricades and hurdles on the road, leading to suspension of traffic.

       Mir Nazeer Ahmed Baloch, chairman of the All Parties Action Committee, said Dad Baloch’s relatives and other protesters were running out of patience over the authorities’ indifference to their demand for the arrest of his killers.

       Leaders of an action committee formed to highlight the matter held negotiations with Makran commissioner Shabbir Ahmed Mengal and Panjgur’s deputy commissioner Abdul Razzaq Sasoli. They told the officials the protesterss were determined to continue the protest till the arrest of the murderers.

       The commissioner assured them that the administration would leave no stone unturned to arrest the culprits. “It is the responsibility of law enforcement agencies and the administration to protect the life and property of the people,” he said.

       The protesters decided to call off the sit-in after the assurance and opened the highway to traffic late in the night.

       Published in Dawn, June 2nd, 2022