Abdul Rehman Khetran is a Pakistani politician who had been the Provincial Minister of Balochistan from 9 September 2018 to 12 August 2023. He has been a member of the

Provincial Assembly of Balochistan The Provincial Assembly of Balochistan is a unicameral legislature of elected representatives of the Pakistani province of Balochistan, Pakistan, Balochistan, and is located in Quetta, the provincial capital. It was established under Article 106 o ...

from August 2018 to August 2023. Previously, he was a member of the Provincial Assembly of Balochistan from May 2013 to May 2018.

Early life and education

He was born on 20 December 1958 in

Barkhan District Barkhan (Balochi language, Balochi: بارخان, , ) is a Districts of Pakistan, district in the province of Balochistan (Pakistan), Balochistan in Pakistan. It shares its borders with the Punjab, Pakistan, province of Punjab to the east and the ...

. He is a Matriculate.

Political career

He was elected to the

as a candidate of

Jamiat Ulema-e Islam (F) Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam Pakistan also known the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam or simply as Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (F) (; ; JUI (F)) is an Islamic fundamentalist political party in Pakistan. Established as the ''Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam'' in 1945, it is th ...

from Constituency PB-17 Barkhan in the

2013 Pakistani general election General elections were held in Pakistan on Saturday 11 May 2013 to elect the members of the List of members of the 14th National Assembly of Pakistan, 14th National Assembly of Pakistan, National Assembly and the four Subdivisions of Pakistan, Pr ...

. He was re-elected to Provincial Assembly of Balochistan as an independent candidate from Constituency PB-8 (Barkhan) in the

2018 Pakistani general election General elections were held in Pakistan on 25 July 2018 to elect the members of the 15th National Assembly and the four Provincial Assemblies. The three major parties were Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), led by Imran Khan, the Pakistan Muslim ...

as an

independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in Pennsylvania, United States * Independentes (English: Independents), a Portuguese artist ...

candidate. He later joined

Balochistan Awami Party The Balochistan Awami Party (BAP) is a political party based in the Balochistan province of Pakistan founded in 2018 by political dissidents of the Pakistan Muslim League (N) and the Pakistan Muslim League (Q) in Balochistan. The party emerged ...

and currently serving as its spokesperson. On 8 September 2018, he was inducted into the provincial Balochistan cabinet of Chief Minister

Jam Kamal Khan Jam Kamal Khan (; born 1 January 1970) (Sindhi language, Sindhi: ڄام ڪمال خان علياڻي) is a Pakistani politician who is currently serving as Ministry of Commerce (Pakistan), Federal Minister of Commerce since 11 March 2024. He also ...

. On 9 September, he was appointed as Provincial Minister of Balochistan for Science and Information Technology.

Controversy

Barkhan triple murder incident

On 21 February 2023, Khetran was accused in a triple murder incident. At least three dead bodies were recovered in the country’s southwestern region including a woman from a well in Barkhan district on Monday, the corpses were found in a well located in Mir Haji Kot village of

Balochistan Balochistan ( ; , ), also spelled as Baluchistan or Baluchestan, is a historical region in West and South Asia, located in the Iranian plateau's far southeast and bordering the Indian Plate and the Arabian Sea coastline. This arid region o ...

where area residents informed the officials about the gut-wrenching incident, prompting a strong reaction from the police team and causing outrage on social media, As the incident garnered attention and victims started sharing clips on social media, the incident along with the Khetran started to trend on social media, the victims including a mother and her children were held hostage in an unlawful personal jail of Abdul Rahman Khetran. The

law enforcers told media that the corpses of Mohammad Marri’s wife and two sons were recovered the three of them are members of a family of the

Marri tribe The Marri are a Balochi-speaking tribe of the Baloch people, who inhabit a large arid region in northeastern Balochistan, Pakistan. The Marri area is bounded to the west by the plains of Sibi. To the north are the Kakar and Loni tribes of the Pas ...

, and the bodies of three victims were sent to

Quetta Quetta is the capital and largest city of the Pakistani province of Balochistan. It is the ninth largest city in Pakistan, with an estimated population of over 1.6 million in 2024. It is situated in the south-west of the country, lying in a ...

from

Kohlu District Kohlu district (, ) is a district of the Balochistan province of Pakistan. It is bounded in the north by Loralai District, with Dera Bugti in the south, Barkhan in the east, and Sibi District in the west. Administration Demographics ...

. Residents hit the streets in protest against the Khetran for the alleged killing the protests spreads across

Pakistan Pakistan, officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of over 241.5 million, having the Islam by country# ...

in demand to arrest Khetran. Amid the serious accusations Khetran denied the involvement in murder and distanced himself from the heinous killing and called it a conspiracy of his rivals He accused his son to hatch a conspiracy against him to take over the family politics, However many reports highlighted that Khetran had a long history of being accused for kidnapping and killing his enemies, he was previously booked in cases having serious charges including murder, kidnapping, sexual assault, and

land grabbing Land grabbing is the large-scale acquisition of land through buying or leasing of large pieces of land by domestic and Multinational corporation, transnational companies, governments, and individuals. While used broadly throughout history, land g ...

, but he remained free due to his connections. On 22 February 2023, the police arrested Khetran for his alleged role in triple murder after widespread protests and outrage of incident on social media. Amid the condemnations, the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan strongly denounced the tragic incident, calling it horrifying.

References

Living people 1958 births Tribal chiefs Balochistan MPAs 2024–2029 Balochistan MPAs 2018–2023 Balochistan MPAs 2013–2018 Pakistan Muslim League (N) MPAs (Balochistan) Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (F) politicians People from Barkhan District {{Balochistan-MPA-stub