QUETTA: A shutter down strike was being observed across Balochistan province on Thursday on the call of Awami National Party (ANP) as a sign of protest against the kidnapping of its former provincial chief Nawab Arbab Abdul Zahir Kasi.
Unknown gunmen had kidnapped the ANP leader Arbab Abdul Zahir Kasi on Tuesday after they intercepted his vehicle on Patel road on the outskirts of Balochistan’s Quetta city.
Almost all business centers and markets remained closed in Quetta on Thursday, with business activities suspended also in Chaman, Qilla Abdullah, Kachlak, Qilla Saifullah, Pashen, Loralai, Ziarat and other towns.
The ANP’s strike call was backed by political and religious parties of the restive province where several doctors, professors and political leaders have been targeted by miscreants and frequently kidnapped for ransom.