GUJRAT: On Tuesday, the Mandi Bahauddin administration gave financial compensation checks to the families of the six people who were injured in the Noshki fire incident in Balochistan.
Deputy Commissioner Shahid Marth of Mandi gave the victims’ relatives cheques totaling Rs 100,000 each.
The heirs of three additional victims of the firing, who belonged to Gujranwala and Wazirabad, have not yet received any compensation from their district administrations; the Mandi district provided the settlement out of its own funds.
In a phone conversation with Dawn, Gujranwala Commissioner Naveed Haider Sheerazi stated that he had instructed the Gujranwala DC to provide financial relief checks to the families who had lost a loved one, and he hoped that the DC will take the appropriate action within a few days.
He further stated that the Noshki deputy Commissioner had approached the DCs of Mandi Bahauddin, Gujranwala, and Wazirabad, asking for information about the families, and that the government of Balochistan had also agreed to provide some financial support to the heirs of the murdered teenagers. Mr. Sheerazi stated that it was unknown how much money the government of Balochistan would actually provide.
The Wazirabad victims’ heirs have not yet received the money; the Mandi district administrator pays from personal funds.
Earlier on Tuesday, a Qul for all six of the deceased was held in their hometown of Chak Fateh Shah in Mandi Bahauddin. Along with the other officials, the Mandi Bahauddin DC attended prayers for the deceased.
The firing of armed individuals claimed the lives of at least nine young men, ranging in age from 17 to 23, who lived in the districts of Mandi, Gujranwala, and Wazirabad. From Quetta they were heading to Taftan on the Iran-Pakistan border. The assailants intercepted the bus they were riding in and stole the passengers’ stuff, including cash and cell phones, after setting up a cordon on the N-40 Quetta-Noshki Highway.
The nine passengers from Punjab were separated and taken away by the gunmen after their national identity cards were checked. Later on, in a steep part of Noshki, their bullet-riddled bodies were disposed of beneath a bridge. The executions were attributed to the Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA).
Although the dead teens had valid visas from Iran and Iraq, people close to their families claimed that they had left their homes with the purpose of entering Turkey illegally and then traveling to Europe.
The deceased were from low-income households, and they had given an initial payment of Rs. 260,000 apiece to an agent located in Gujranwala, with the remaining amount to be paid by them when they arrived at their destination.
