QUETTA, Aug 26: A strike was observed in Quetta and other cities and towns in the province on Sunday on a call by the Jamhoori Watan Party (Talal and Aali groups) and Baloch Republican Party on the sixth death anniversary of Nawab Akbar Bugti.

The Baloch National Voice, BNP-Mengal, National Party, Nuri Nasser Khan Council, PPP, ANP, PML-N, Jamaat-i-Islami, Tehrik-i-Insaaf and Anjuman Tajiran Balochistan supported the strike.

All shops and trading centres in the provincial capital remained closed and traffic was thin on the roads.

The strike was observed in Nushki, Chagai, Mastung, Kalat, Khuzdar, Awaran, Hub, Gwadar, Panjgur, Turbat, Pasni, Ormara, Kharan, Mushkal, Mach, Dhadar, Sibi, Dera Murad Jamali, Dera Allahyar, Sui and Jhal Magsi.

Buses did not operate on the Quetta-Taftan, Quetta-Karachi and Quetta-Jacobabad roads in the morning.

Nawabzada Talal Bugti, chief of his own faction of the JWP, hoisted black flag at the party’s central office in protest against the military action that killed Nawab Bugti on Aug 26, 2006.

Addressing a press conference, Talal Bugti appealed to Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammed Chaudhry to take notice of the delaying tactics of the government and police in arresting the killers of Nawab Bugti.

He said not a single person involved in the killing had been arrested over the past six years.

He said that former president Pervez Musharraf was abroad and others named in the FIR were in the country, but police did not implement the court’s order of arresting the killers.

Talal Bugti said the JWP would continue its struggle to complete the mission of Nawab Bugti and acquire the national rights for the people of Balochistan.

Activists of the JWP (Aali group) held a demonstration outside the press club and raised slogans against the government.

They demanded arrest of the killers of Nawab Bugti, end of military operation and recovery of missing persons.

Addressing the rally, JWP leaders paid rich tribute to Nawab Bugti for resisting the state oppression and sacrificing his life for a cause.

They said the late leader was killed six year ago but the oppressors did not succeed in forcing us to abandon his ideology and ideas.

They said that Nawab Bugti had struggled for protecting resources and coasts of the Baloch and he never compromised on principles and rights of the people.