QUETTA - Angry drivers blocked Quetta-Karachi Highway at Khuzdar to protest kidnapping of three drivers on gunpoint by armed men on Saturday.
Sources said gunmen intercepted several trucks in Baghbana area of Khuzdar and kidnapped nine drivers at gunpoint before escaping towards undisclosed location. The kidnappers later released six drivers in mountains of Khuzdar district.
Following the incident, the transporters blocked high-way by parking their trucks and vehicles in the middle of the road and chanted slogans against Khuzdar administration, saying abductions and looting of drivers and passenger buses had become a routine matter on Quetta-Karachi Highway but so far no kidnapper had been arrested.
They said the kidnapping gangs used to abduct drivers and release them after receiving huge ransom, and added that Quetta-Karachi Highway had become so risky that traveling on this highway was tantamount to commit suicide.
Due to closure of highway, there were long queues of vehicles stranded on both sides of the highway causing immense difficulties for passengers.
The protesters demanded immediate recovery of the kidnapped drivers and stern action against abductors.
After long negotiations between protesting drivers and district administration and assurances on the part of administration that kidnappers would be arrested soon, the drivers ended their protest and restored the traffic on the highway after eight hours.