By Staff Reporter
QUETTA: The Balochistan government on Saturday offered the Balochistan National Party-Mengal (BNP-M) permission to march to Quetta’s Shahwani Stadium but warned of legal action if the party breaches the city’s Red Zone.
The BNP-M launched a march from Wadh to Quetta last Friday to protest the arrests of Baloch Yakjehti Committee (BYC) leaders, including Dr. Mahrang Baloch and Sammi Deen Baloch, and a police crackdown on their Quetta sit-in. Sammi was freed Tuesday, but the BNP-M’s Mastung sit-in persists into its ninth day.
The BYC top leader and several of her colleagues were arrested on March 22 after staging a sit-in outside the University of Balochistan.
Provincial authorities charged them with terrorism, sedition and murder following a protest in which three demonstrators were killed, according to police documents.
The crackdown on BYC leaders followed a deadly train attack last month in Balochistan, in which BLA separatists took hundreds of passengers hostage. The standoff lasted nearly 36 hours until the army launched a rescue operation, killing 33 militants.
A final count showed 26 passengers had also died in the incident.
Government spokesperson Shahid Rind said the administration approved a march to Shahwani Stadium but rejected the BNP-M’s push to protest in the Red Zone. “The provincial government held a dialogue and proposed that BNP-M will be allowed till Shawani Stadium [on] Sariab Road, but they did not agree and wanted to hold the demonstration in the Red Zone. However, the government will not accept that.”
Rind emphasized that peaceful protest is a right, but the district administration sets the terms. “They have announced bringing the march to Quetta, and they should know that Section 144 has already been declared, and if it will be violated, then the law will take its course… No permission will be given to hold the Red Zone and government functionaries hostage.”
The spokesperson also accused the BNP-M of delivering “anti-state speeches,” adding that legal action is underway.
“On the remarks made against the Balochistan government by [Akhtar] Mengal yesterday, the government reserves the right and capacity to respond but Balochistan Chief Minister Sarfraz Bugti had directed from day one that no such remarks should be made that would derail this political process, and hence this is not the moment to respond,” he added.
BNP-M chief Sardar Akhtar Mengal on Thursday demanded the release of all BYC prisoners, a peaceful Quetta sit-in, or the arrest of protesters. He accused the government of stalling, saying, “If all prisoners, including women, are not released, we will march towards Quetta.”
Rind said two rounds of talks with the BNP-M and other parties have taken place. “[Akhtar] Mengal claimed that the negotiation committee was without authority, so they were given authority, and they [BNP] had three demands that were the release of Mahrang and BYC leadership and our stance was clear that if courts provide relief, the government would not object.”
BNP-M leader Sanaullah Baloch blamed government mismanagement for shutting all national highways, cutting Quetta’s links to 12 districts. He said authorities have dug ditches on major routes, including the Quetta-Karachi National Highway.
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