Quetta-Karachi National Highway shut over Ghaffar Langove’s arrest

The Baloch Hal News

QUETTA: The Quetta-Karachi National Highway remained closed for 12 hours on Saturday after the supporters of Baloch leader Abdul Ghaffar Langove blocked the busy road in protest against their leader’s arrest by security forces from Karachi.

The supporters of Mr. Langove, who had been whisked away from a Karachi hospital allegedly by the state-controlled intelligence agencies, blocked the RCD national highway at Mangochar area of Kalat district, suspending all forms of traffic between Karachi and Quetta, the provincial capitals of Sindh and Balochistan provinces respectively.

The protestors belonged to Balochistan National Party, the National Party, Baloch Republican Party and different Baloch tribes that collectively condemned the arrest of the leader.

They chanted slogans against the government and demanded the release of the Baloch leader saying that they were absolutely clueless about the whereabouts of their leader. They feared that the ailing Baloch nationalist leader had been shifted inside a torture cell at an unknown location.

As hundreds of buses and trucks were stranded due to the closure of the highway, several passengers suffered immensely due to extremely cold weather and unavailability of edible items on the highway.  After getting the news about the closure of the road, a huge contingent of the local police rushed to the venue where the road had been blocked.

The protestors agreed to reopen the road only after receiving assurances from Balochistan’s Home Minister Mir Zafarullah Zehri and Commissioner Kalat that Mr. Langove would be released in the next two days.

Addressing a press conference, tribal elders Mir Zeb Langove, Babu Ramzan Langove, Mir Kamal Khan Langove, Takari Abdul Nabi Mohammad Shai,Haleem Mengal, Malik Ghoram Lehri, Khurshid Langove, Mohammad Rafiq Baloch and Niazi Baloch warned that if Mr. Abdul Ghafar Langove was not released immediately, they would once again block the Quetta-Karachi highway on December 15th.

“If there are any charges against Abdul Ghaffar then he should be brought before a court. It is inhuman to arrest him from the hospital and hide his whereabouts to his relatives and family members. More importantly, we do not know where he is kept right now and under what kind of circumstances the ailing leader is living at present,” said Mir Zeb Langove, a tribal elder.

Balochistan’s Home Minister Mir Zafarullah Zehri, while making a telephone call to Mir Zeb Langove from Lahore, said he was in touch with the Sindh government to find out some information about the whereabouts of Abdul Ghafar. ” I have contacted Sindh Chief Minister Syed Qaim Ali Shah and Mr. Langove would be released very soon,” he assured.

The Home Minister said the government was taking measures for the recovery of all missing persons after the availability of the missing persons’ list.

The family of the missing Baloch leader provided the Home Minister with the details of his arrest and hoped that Prime Minister Syed Yousaf Raza Gillani would take notice of the disappearance of Baloch leader.