Enraged mob torches vehicle, blocks highway after accident
DADU: Enraged over the death of a fellow tribesman in a road accident, scores of Kalhoros along with members of other communities went on the rampage attacking vehicles with clubs and stones and blocking the Indus Highway at Dadu bypass for more than five hours on Tuesday.
Sadar Kalhoro, who led the protesters, told the media that his brother, Ikhlaq Kalhoro, was killed and cousin Khalid Kalhoro, was injured when the motorcycle they were riding was hit by a heavy vehicle employed by the Frontier Works Organisation (FWO) in Pipri village, two kilometres from Dadu city.
Soon after the accident, a large number of men, women and children rushed to the scene of the accident and captured the errant driver, Mohammed Ramzan. They severely thrashed and handed him over to the police. They also set the killer vehicle on fire and forced the B-Section police to register a murder and attempted murder case against him.
Later, the protesters took the deceased man’s body to Dadu bypass and blocked the Indus Highway for more than five hours. During the course of their protest, they pelted many vehicles, lined up on both sides of the bypass, with stones and damaged them. Some people riding the vehicles sustained injuries in the intermittent attacks.
According to Dadu police, the protesters apprehended that the driver might be released or an accidental case could be registered against him under the pressure of the FWO, whose officials were in constant touch with the police over the matter.
Published in Dawn, May 18th, 2016