Source : INDIA TODAY NEWS
A young Hindu trader was shot dead by unidentified armed men in Pakistan’s Balochistan province on Friday, Pakistani publication Dawn quoted local police as saying.
According to the report, the gunmen entered the trader’s shop in the Qadirabad locality of Nushki town. They allegedly opened fire when he resisted them and then fled, leaving him dead at the scene.
Police reached the site after being alerted and shifted the body to the district hospital, where the victim was identified as Rakesh Kumar, Dawn reported.
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A case has been registered against the unidentified attackers, according to the newspaper. The motive for the killing was not immediately known, and no group had claimed responsibility.
MINORITY LAWMAKER CONDEMNS KILLING
Gurpal Singh, a member of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Provincial Assembly, condemned Kumar’s killing and described it as a cowardly act by “anti-state and anti-Balochistan elements”.
“The Hindu community has been an integral part of Balochistan for centuries and has repeatedly demonstrated its loyalty to Pakistan and Balochistan,” Singh said in a statement.
He said hostile elements would not succeed in creating fear and hatred among people by targeting innocent Hindu traders and civilians.
Singh called on the Balochistan government and law-enforcement agencies to immediately identify and prosecute Kumar’s killers, their facilitators and those behind the attack.
BALOCHISTAN IN TURMOIL
While the killing of the Hindu trader has not been attributed to any group, it comes amid escalating armed violence across Pakistan’s Balochistan province.
Baloch groups have claimed dozens of recent attacks on security forces, military convoys, police posts and infrastructure.
The Baloch Raji Ajoi Sangar, a rebel group, claimed that its fighters ambushed a Pakistani military convoy in Nushki district on August 17, killing seven personnel and injuring more than eight.
The Baloch Liberation Army separately claimed responsibility for 22 attacks across Balochistan between August 9 and 15, in which it said 26 Pakistani personnel and members of alleged state-backed groups were killed.
The BLA also acknowledged losing two fighters in a clash in Panjgur and accused Pakistani authorities of subsequently killing three detained Baloch men in a staged encounter.
Pakistan has not publicly confirmed several of the casualty figures, and the groups’ claims could not be independently verified.
– Ends
SOURCE :- TIMES OF INDIA
