Lawyers observe strike on third day against Quetta carnage

QUETTA: The lawyers fraternity observed a complete strike on Wednesday -- the third consecutive day -- after the killing of their colleagues in the Civil Hospital blast on Monday.

They wore black armbands as a mark of protest against the killing of lawyers in Quetta. Quran Khawani was held for the departed souls. Meanwhile, a high-level meeting held at the Southern Command Headquarters in Quetta Cantonment, which reviewed different aspects of the security situation, suggested measures to tighten security in the province.

According to the ISPR, the meeting was jointly presided  over by Chief Minister Balochistan Nawab Sanaullah Khan Zehri and Commander Southern Command Lt General Aamir Riaz. It was also attended by Home Minister Mir Sarfaraz Bugti, Chief Secretary Saifullah Chattha, IG Police Ahsan Mehboob, IGFC Maj General

Sher Afgan, Chief of Staff Southern Command Maj General Syed Muhammad Adnan and General Officer Commanding Maj General Azhar Naveed Hayat Khan. The meeting reviewed the security situation that had emerged after the Quetta Civil Hospital suicide blast.

It was vowed that no stone would be left unturned to strengthen the country's defence, the ISPR said adding that concrete steps would be taken for bringing peace and prosperity in Balochistan.

Chief Minister Balochistan Nawab Sanaullah Khan Zehri has announced that the widows of two journalists martyred in the Quetta Civil Hospital suicide bomb blast would be given employment in government departments. He visited the residences of Shehzad Ahmed and Mehmood Khan and offered Fateha here on Wednesday.

Talking to the heirs of the martyrs, he said that his government would provide jobs to the widows of the martyred journalists in government departments. The government will also bear expenditures of children of the martyred journalists, he said. He directed the chief secretary to furnish recommendations in this regard.

Also, Speaker Balochistan Assembly Raheela Hameed Khan Durrani visited the residences of martyred lawyers and offered Fateha. She visited the houses of lawyers Daud Khan Kasi, Gul Zareen Bilal, Anwar Kasi, Barrister Adnan Kasi and Baz Muhammad Kakar and offered Fateha and condoled with their families. She prayed for the martyrs.

Meanwhile, the Frontier Corps (FC) arrested a militant among three in Kalat and Killa Abdullah district in search operations on Wednesday. According to an FC spokesman, acting on a tip-off, the FC personnel carried out a search operation in the Juhan area of Kalat district and apprehended two facilitators of militants.

Meanwhile, a militant was also arrested from the Gulistan area of Killa Abdulla district in an operation by the FC personnel. They were being interrogated. And, the head of the United Nations agency tasked with defending press freedom denounced the Monday's terrorist attack that killed at least 70 people, including two journalists, in Quetta.

There can be no justification for violence targeting civilians, Irina Bokova, Director General of the United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), said on Wednesday in a statement condemning the attack.

Among the deceased, Mehmood Khan, a cameraman for Dawn News, and Shehzad Ahmed, a cameraman for Aaj TV, were reporting at the time of the bomb blast on a gathering of mourners following the murder of the president of the Balochistan Bar Association Bilal Kasi earlier in the day.

The loss of these media professionals in the brutal terrorist attack in Quetta undermines citizens' ability to sustain informed debate that is the bedrock of good governance and dialogue, Bokova added.

On Monday, in a statement issued by his office, UN Secretary General Ban Ki moon also condemned the attack underscoring that the targeting of mourners made it particularly appalling. The UNESCO chief regularly issues statements on the killing of media workers in line with the Resolution 29 adopted by UNESCO Member States in 1997, entitled Condemnation of Violence against Journalists.