Bazaars and offices were closed in the provincial capital Quetta and other cities and towns, while buses were off the roads and pickets struck private cars on highways, witnesses said.

The general strike raised tensions amid a bloody revolt by tribesmen and nationalist militants who are demanding greater rights and economic benefits from the region's huge oil and gas reserves.

"We called the strike because we are opposed to colonisation of the land of minority nationalities," said Sannaullah Baluch, leader of the Pakistan Oppressed Nation Movement, an umbrella organisation of around 30 ethnic groups.