QUETTA: Police have found the bullet-riddled body of Awami National Party (ANP) leader Asad Khan Achakzai who went missing five months ago.
Asad Khan had gone missing on September 25, 2020 while coming to Quetta from Chaman to attend a meeting of the party. Police confirmed that his body was found from Killi Nosahar area of the city on Saturday.
Deputy Inspector General of Quetta police Azhar Akram said that police had arrested a Levies Force official in the killing case of Asad Khan. He said that suspect Israr Ahmed was arrested from Sariab Road area and behind the killing of Asad Khan and stealing his car which has been recovered from his possession. He said the accused during interrogation had confessed to snatching the car from Asad and killing him.
The DIG said Asad Khan gave a lift to the Levies Force official who killed him 10 km away from the Killi Nosahar and dumped his body in a deep ditch. A police team accompanied by a magistrate visited the area and recovered the body which was shifted to civil hospital for post-mortem. The slain ANP leader will be laid to rest in Chaman.
The party’s workers staged a sit-in at Quetta’s Manan Chowk and blocked the road for traffic. Asad Khan was the cousin of the provincial president of ANP and parliamentary leader Mohammad Asghar Achakzai.
The ANP has been protesting since October last year for the recovery of Asad Khan. Chief Minister Jam Kamal said that the government made all efforts for his recovery during investigation.
The party has announced three-day mourning on the death of ANP spokesman for Balochistan Asad Khan Achakzai. In a statement from the party secretariat, ANP senior vice-president Ameer Haider Khan Hoti said that the party flag would remain half-mast at all the district, provincial and central offices of the party as part of the mourning.
He said the missing of Asad Khan and subsequent recovery of his body has raised questions as the protection of people’s lives is the responsibility of the state.
