February 3, 2003	Monday	Zilhaj 1,1423

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QUETTA, Feb 2: Strike was observed in Dera Murad Jamali and protesters blocked the national highway linking Balochistan with Sindh and Punjab as a mark of protest against the merger of levies force into police in Nasirabad district.

The Balochistan government declared entire Nasirabad as “A” area and handed it over to the police, abolishing levies posts and Thanas in the district.

The government has decided to merge levies of Nasirabad district into the police force. The option was also offered to the levies men that if they wanted to remain in levies the government could send them to other districts where levies force continued to exist.

However, the levies men refused to merge into police force and demanded that levies check posts should be restored in Nasirabad district. The people of the area also supported them.

During the strike all markets and business centres remained closed. In the meantime, the people blocked the Quetta-Sukkur national highway. However, the local administration restored the traffic after four hours after talks with the protesters.