Balochistan govt announces arrests in connection to murders of 7 Punjab labourers

Quetta: The Balochistan government on Friday announced the arrest of two suspects in connection to the murder of seven labourers from  Punjab in the coastal town of Sarba­ndan.

The announcement came from provincial home minister Zia Ullah Langau who was speaking to the media.

Seven barber shop workers were killed and one was injured in Surbandar area Gwadar when unknown gunmen entered their residential quarters and opened fire on them while they were sleeping earlier this month.

Langau said that all institutions were tasked to arrest the culprits. “I congratulate all our institutions who fulfilled their responsibility and the government’s orders with their efforts and we have arrested two killers of the Gwadar labourers,” he said.

The home minister added: “Statements have been drawn from them which clearly show they were given orders … and guns and weapons have been seized from them.”

The minister said that as per their statements, the culprits were ordered to kill any Punjabi labourer.

Balochistan Counter Terrorism Department Deputy Inspector General Aitzaz Goraya said the two suspects were members of the proscribed Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA) organisation and were arrested from Gwadar with one of them being a Sarba­ndan local.