QUETTA: Attackers fatally shot seven barbers before dawn Thursday in a home in a volatile province in southwestern Pakistan, police and a government official said.
The killings occurred near the port city of Gwadar in Balochistan province, police official Mohsin Ali said. All of the barbers were from Punjab province and lived and worked together.
Provincial Interior Minister Ziaullah Langau condemned the killings and said police were investigating who was behind the attack.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility. Separatists in Balochistan have often killed workers and others from Punjab as part of a campaign to force them to leave the province, which for years has experienced a low-level insurgency by the Balochistan Liberation Army and other groups demanding independence from the central government in Islamabad. Islamist militants also have a presence in the province.
The government says it has quelled the separatist insurgency, but violence in the province has persisted.
Police said they believe the attack on the barbers was not related to their jobs. Last month, the Balochistan Liberation Army claimed responsibility for killing nine people from Punjab province who were abducted from a bus on a highway in Balochistan, saying it had information that spies were on the bus.
Separatists have also targeted people from Punjab working on coal-mine projects in Balochistan.
In January, gunmen killed six barbers in a former stronghold of the Pakistani Taliban in the country’s northwest near the Afghanistan border. Pakistani militants years ago banned the trimming of beards and haircuts in Western styles.
Gunmen kill seven barbers in Pakistan’s volatile Balochistan province
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Gunmen kill seven barbers in Pakistan’s volatile Balochistan province
- No group has claimed responsibility, though Baloch separatists have targeted people from Punjab in the past
- The Pakistan government says it has quelled separatist insurgency, but violence in Balochistan has persisted
Pakistan invites Uzbek firms to run off-dock terminals at Karachi Port
- Pakistan has offered landlocked Central Asian nations access to global sea lanes via its ports
- Officials in Islamabad seek greater regional cargo flows by modernizing port infrastructure
KARACHI: Pakistan on Thursday invited Uzbek industry and trade stakeholders to consider operating dedicated off-dock terminals at Karachi Port, according to an official statement, as the country looks to expand the use of its maritime infrastructure for regional trade.
The offer was made during a visit by a 13-member delegation from Uzbekistan to the Karachi Port Trust (KPT), where officials briefed them on port infrastructure, terminal operations and logistics-related investment opportunities.
Rear Admiral Shahid Ahmed, the KPT chairman, highlighted ongoing development initiatives, rail and road connectivity and terminal operations.
“In this context, the Chairman invited Uzbek industry and trade stakeholders to consider operating dedicated off dock terminals at Karachi Port to facilitate their import and export operations,” the statement said.
Off-dock terminals are cargo handling and storage facilities located outside a port’s boundaries but connected to it by road or rail to ease congestion and support import and export operations.
The visiting delegation, led by Deputy Minister for Investment, Industry and Trade Gulamov Shokhrukh Khasanovich, also toured private terminals at Karachi Port and was briefed on the use of modern technologies at the facilities.
Pakistan has been offering landlocked Central Asian economies access to global sea lanes through its ports on the Arabian Sea and hopes to position itself as a transshipment hub by strengthening port infrastructure.
Officials say transshipment hubs enable the transfer of cargo from one vessel to another, facilitating regional and international trade and generating revenue.
As part of its port modernization drive, Pakistan has engaged Abu Dhabi Ports Group to upgrade its maritime infrastructure.
