LAHORE / QUETTA: Amid severe criticism of security forces over their failure to provide protection to workers in Balo­chistan, funeral prayers of seven slain labourers were offered on Sunday.

Hundreds of people attended the final rites of the construction workers, who were brutally murdered in the Khuda-i-Abadan area of Balochistan’s Panjgur town on Saturday night.

The gruesome attack by unidentified gunmen left another worker injured. However, one of their colleagues proved lucky as he was out of the room at the time of the incident. The victims were close relatives to each other.

According to officials in Quetta, the Counter Terr­orism Department of Balo­chistan police registered an FIR against unknown armed men and started investigation. Earlier, Multan Deputy Commissioner Wasim Hamid received the bodies at the airport in the presence of the relatives of the deceased.

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Governor Faisal Karim Kundi, MNA Syed Abdul Qadir Gillani, MPA Salman Naeem and others were also present.

The bodies were shifted to Shujabad tehsil before being handed over to heirs who took them to their native town of Shujabad and offered the funeral prayer.

The funeral prayers of five labourers were offered in Basti Chaddur and of two others in Shujabad.

Meanwhile, the locals and relatives of the deceased blocked the M-5 Motorway near Chaddur Morr to protest delay in the arrival of bodies. The protesters blocked the Sukkur Motorway for more than an hour. The protesters condemned the terrorists responsible for the killings.

A heavy police contingent arrived at the scene and held negotiations with protesters. The protest was called off upon assurance that there would be no further delay in the arrival of bodies.

Separately, the Seraikistan Naujawan Tehreek also held a protest outside the Multan Press Club against the incident.

Tehreek chairman Mazhar Abbas Kaat said that time and again security forces had failed to protect the lives and property of the Seraiki labourers in Balochistan. He said it was the second time the Seraiki youth had been murdered in Balochistan this year.

Earlier, Balochistan Chief Minister Mir Sarfraz Ahmed Bugti provided his official helicopter to shift the bodies to Multan from Panjgur.

The additional chief secretary (Home) Punjab and officials of Multan administration received the bodies from the deputy commissioner of Panjgur.

According to Balochistan IGP Moazzam Jah Ansari, a resident of Khuda-i-Abadan, identified as Abu Bakar, had brought nine labourers from Multan for the construction of his house. They were building the house and lived in a room provided by the house owner.

Sources said the local administration was not aware of the presence of these labourers in the area as the person who brought them had not informed the authorities concerned for their registration.

The local authorities had started registering the labourers coming for work in Makran after the killing of seven workers in Turbat last year.

Officials said that the Counter Terrorism Department of the Balochistan police was also investigating why the local administration and police had remained unaware of the presence of labourers who came to Panjgur from Multan.

Behram Baloch in Gwadar also contributed to this report

Published in Dawn, September 30th, 2024