QUETTA: Dozens of tribesmen in Pakistan’s southwestern Balochistan province on Friday announced to call off their protest which they launched in the wake of a triple murder case in the region for which they blamed a powerful provincial minister while seeking justice.
The tribesmen set up the protest camp in Quetta after a paramilitary force discovered three mutilated bodies in a well in the Hajji Kot area of Barkhan district on Monday night. The victims were said to belong to the family of a local tribesman, Khan Muhammad Marri, who accused Communications and Works Minister Sardar Abdul Rehman Khetran of holding his family hostage in “private jails” and eventually killing them. Khetran is currently under arrest.
The tribesmen refused to bury the bodies, allegedly belonging to a woman, Giran Naz, and her sons, Muhammad Nawaz and Abdul Qadir. Prior to the bodies being discovered, a video went viral of Naz accusing Khetran of detaining her family and requesting Pakistani authorities to secure their release.
In a dramatic twist in the case, however, authorities in Balochistan announced the women, who was thought to be dead, had been found alive from the remote Kohlu area along with her other children.
“We have called off the protest today because the provincial government has recovered Khan Muhammad Marri’s family and shifted them to Quetta,” Jahangir Marri, the secretary general of the Marri Ittehad Pakistan that organized the sit-in, told Arab News.
“Now we are going to pick up the bodies of Marri’s two sons, Muhammad Nawaz and Abdul Qadir, for burial,” he continued. “However, discussions are still going on to decide whether they will be buried in Kohlu or Quetta.”
The identity of the dead woman, who was previously thought to be Naz, is still not clear. However, a postmortem report revealed the body belonged to 17-18 years old girl who was shot after being raped.
Balochistan is Pakistan’s largest and poorest province. The arid western region is rich in minerals but plagued by violence, with powerful tribes long having held sway over political and social life in the region. Separatist militants also run amok in the area, carrying out frequent attacks on security forces and accusing the federal government of looting the region’s resources while leaving its people in poverty.
After meeting his wife and children, Marri requested the protesters to end the sit-in.
“I am very thankful to all tribes and communities that supported me and my family,” he said in a video statement released Friday evening.
Despite the announcement of Marri Ittehad Pakistan to call off the protest, some demonstrators have decided to continue while refusing to hand over the bodies for burial.
“We will not hand over the bodies for burial until the government completes the identification of the [unknown] woman and determine the causes of her murder,” Tanveer Marri, an advocate who is now leading the protest in Quetta, told Arab News.
Tribesmen in Pakistan’s southwest announce to call off protest in triple murder case
https://arab.news/rk6yq
Tribesmen in Pakistan’s southwest announce to call off protest in triple murder case
- The protest began earlier this week after three mutilated bodies were found in Barkhan district
- A powerful provincial minister was accused of killing the three people from the same family
Pakistan highlights economic reforms at Davos, eyes cooperation in AI, IT and minerals
- Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif speaks at breakfast event in Davos at sidelines of World Economic Forum summit
- Pakistan, rich in gold, copper reserves, has sought cooperation with China, US, Gulf countries in its mineral sector
ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif highlighted Pakistan’s recent economic reforms during the sidelines of the ongoing World Economic Forum (WEF) summit in Davos on Wednesday, saying that his country was eyeing greater cooperation in mines and minerals, information technology, cryptocurrency and artificial intelligence with other states.
The Pakistani prime minister was speaking at the Pakistan Pavilion in Davos on the sidelines of the WEF summit at a breakfast event. Sharif arrived in Switzerland on Tuesday to attend the 56th annual meeting of the WEF, which brings together global business leaders, policymakers and politicians to speak on social, economic and political challenges.
Pakistan has recently undertaken several economic reforms, which include removing subsidies on energy and food, privatization of loss-making state-owned enterprises and expanding its tax base. Islamabad took the measures as part of reforms it agreed with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in exchange for a financial bailout package.
“We are now into mines and minerals business in a big way,” Sharif said at the event. “We have signed agreements with American companies and Chinese companies.”
Islamabad has sought to attract foreign investment in its critical minerals sector in recent months. In April 2025, Pakistan hosted an international minerals summit where top companies and government officials from the US, Saudi Arabia, China, Türkiye, the UK, Azerbaijan, and other nations attended.
Pakistan is rich in gold, copper and lithium reserves as well as other minerals, yet its mineral sector contributes only 3.2 percent to the countrys GDP and 0.1 percent to global exports, according to official figures.
Sharif said Pakistan has been blessed with infinite natural resources which are buried in its mountains in the northern Gilgit-Baltistan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Azad Kashmir and southwestern Balochistan regions.
“But we have now decided to go forward at lightning speed,” he said. “And we are also moving speedily in the field of crypto, AI, IT.”
He said the government’s fiscal and economic measures have reduced inflation from nearly 30 percent a few years ago to single-digit figures, adding that its tax-to-GDP ratio had also increased from 9 to 10.5 percent.
The prime minister admitted Pakistan’s exports face different kinds of challenges collectively, saying the country’s social indicators needed to improve.
“But the way forward is very clear: that Pakistan has to have an export-led growth,” he said.
SHARIF MEETS IMF MANAGING DIRECTOR
Separately, Sharif met IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva on improvements in Pakistan’s macroeconomic indicators, efforts toward stability and progress on institutional reforms, a statement from Sharif’s office said.
He emphasized Pakistan’s commitment to fiscal discipline, revenue mobilization and sustainable development, it added.
The IMF managing director acknowledged and appreciated Pakistan’s reform efforts, the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) said.
“Both sides exchanged views on the global economic outlook, challenges facing emerging economies, and the importance of multilateral cooperation in safeguarding economic stability,” the PMO said.
