QUETTA - Two persons were killed and five others, including a TV cameraman, received injuries when security forces on Saturday opened fire on protesters in Sibi.
A large number of people blocked the National Highway near the bridge over River Nari in Sibi during the wheel-jam strike called by the Baloch Republican Party (BRP) to protest the killing of the wife and daughter of lawmaker Nawabzada Mir Bakhtiar Khan Domki.
The protesters stopped a convoy of security forces, as they were chanting slogans against the government, while condemning the killing of the granddaughter of late Nawab Akbar Bugti. The angry crowd was not ready to let them go and some of them exchanged hot words with the security forces. As a result, the troops opened fire, killing two persons on the spot and injuring five others.
It is reported that the security forces were unable to deal with the highly-charged protesters and resorted to fire to disperse them.
The protesters claimed it was straight fire that caused the human loss. They rejected the contention of the security forces that the people were killed in aerial firing and said the security forces had exchanged hot words with the enraged protesters that resulted in brick-batting, culminating in direct fire in order to open the road for traffic.
The dead and injured were taken to the nearby state-run hospital. The deceased were identified as Ahmed Khan Domki and Azam Khan Domki.
The injured include Amir Muhammad, Sadiq Khan, Abdul Nabi, Mullah Dad Miandad Khan Domki and the cameraman of a private TV news channel Afzal Ahmed.
Meanwhile, Balochistan Chief Minister Nawab Muhammad Aslam Raisani has taken a serious notice of the killings and announced to constitute a judicial commission headed by a judge of Balochistan High Court to probe into the incident.
Meanwhile, a complete wheel-jam and shutter-down strike was observed in Quetta and other parts of Balochistan to condemn the killing of the wife and daughter of lawmaker Nawabzada Mir Bakhtiar Khan Domki.
The strike call given by the BRP and supported by other Baloch nationalist parties. The deceased, who were also the sister and niece of Baloch Republican Party (BRP) chief Brahamdagh Bugti, were gunned down in Karachi on January 31.
Routine life was also paralysed in Sibbi, Turbat, Dera Allahyar, Naushki, Khuzdar, Mastung, Hub, Washuk, Khuzdar and other parts of the province where markets and business centres remained closed throughout the day.
All the important highways, including Quetta-Taftan and Quetta-Karachi, were blocked by the angry protesters by placing barricades that caused inconvenience to motorists. However, light traffic was seen plying on the roads of Quetta.
Strict security measures were in place with the deployment of heavy contingent of security forces and law enforcement agencies during the strike.