QUETTA: Gwadar traders observe strike

QUETTA, Feb 27: The business community observed a strike in Gwadar on Friday on the call of the National Party (NP) and Baloch Students’ Organization (BSO) to protest against housing projects and attitude of the staff of Gwadar port authority.

National Party leader Abdul Ghaffar told this reporter by phone from Gwadar that strike was successful as all shops and trading centres remained closed. The workers of NP and BSO held public meetings.

The leaders spoke at the gathers and condemned the policies of the port authority and announced that Baloch people would not accept those projects which would imbalance the demographic ratio in the district. They announced to continue their struggle for the rights of the people of Balochistan and protect the natural resources of the province.

Smuggling: The anti-narcotics force of Balochistan have said that the poppy crop grown on an area of 1,000 acre has been destroyed in the warm areas of the province during the last two weeks.

A cultivator was also killed during this anti-poppy campaign in exchange of firing with ANF personnel. Speaking at a press conference here on Wednesday, regional ANF Director Brig Liaqat Ali Toor said this year too, despite a ban, poppy had been cultivated throughout the province covering an area of about 5,000 acres.

He lamented that the cultivation of this illegal crop had spread to the canal irrigated areas of Nasirabad district. A poppy eradication plan was forwarded to the provincial government on Jan 22, 2004, and its first phase was launched on Feb 9, 2004.

He told the press conference that Balochistan had been divided in warm, cold and extreme cold zones and maintained that the crop grew in warm districts in February, cold areas in April and extreme cold fields in June.

He claimed that assets of some influential personalities had been frozen in this regard that included Nasrullah, Muhammad Asim Kurd, Haji Sakhi Dost Jan Notezai, Muhammad Abdul Nafah Achakzai, Mir Bayan, Ali Muhammad Agha, Parvez Hasan Haravi, Imam Bheel, Bisham Bheel, Haji Ali Muhammad Notezai, Israr and Akhtar Ali. They all have filed appeals in a court against this action.

In reply to a question, he said Imam Bheel had been declared proclaimed offender and maintained that he did not know that the accused was funding for public meetings of important government personalities.
Source: The Dawn