BYC activists arrested amid partial strike
A partial shutter-down strike was observed in Balochistan on Saturday, a day after protesters from Baloch Yakjehti Committee (BYC) clashed with riots police, pelting armoured vehicles with stones and law enforcers responding by using tear gas, water cannons and blank shots on Sariab Road near the Balochistan University.
Several BYC protesters, including its chief organiser Mahrang Baloch, were taken into custody as cellular services and internet remained suspended in Quetta where the Red Zone, which houses key government buildings, has been sealed.
The BYC accused police of using "excessive force against protesters", including live fire, killing three people and injuring dozens. Provincial government spokesman Shahid Rind, however, refuted the allegations, stating that the protesters resorted to stone-pelting and unprovoked violence, injuring several police officers, including a female constable.
According to the government, the law enforcers acted in accordance with the law to clear a blocked national highway, while the BYC insisted that they used unnecessary force to suppress a peaceful demonstration.
Subsequently, Mahrang Baloch, who was leading the protest, issued a call late Friday night for a shutter-down strike across the province. The BYC, sharing Mahrang's statement in the Balochi language on X, quoted her as announcing "shutting down the entire Balochistan against [ ] the government violence". The BYC announced staging another sit-in on Sariab Road with the bodies of those it claimed were allegedly killed by police on Friday.
On Saturday, the BYC shared purported pictures of closed shops and roads in different areas of Balochistan, including Dalbandin, Khuzdar, Washuk, and Surab. It also shared purported footage of protests in Mastung, Dera Murad Jamali, and Turbat, where demonstrators burnt tyres to block roads.
After the strike call, the BYC claimed that Mahrang, along with other protesters, was arrested earlier on Saturday from the Quetta sit-in while the alleged bodies were "seized". The AFP news agency quoted an unnamed senior police officer as confirming that Mahrang, along with 17 other protesters, including 10 men and seven women, has been arrested
The confrontation came after Balochsitan saw an unprecedented train siege this month that officials said resulted in around 60 deaths. The assault was claimed by the Baloch Liberation Army (BLA), a banned separatist outfit.
"The authorities must immediately cease to use force against peaceful protesters and release those arbitrarily detained," said the independent Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) in a statement. "The use of disproportionate and unlawful kinetic means by the state must cease immediately to pave the way for a purposeful political solution," it added.
The Balochistan National Party-Mengal (BNP-M) and the National Party (NP) condemned what they described as use of excessive force against "peaceful demonstrators" and urged the government to engage in dialogue to resolve the situation.
On Thursday, relatives of missing persons, who had been demanding they be allowed to identify the dead bodies brought to the Civil Hospital, had managed to take away a number of corpses from the hospital morgue.
(With input from agencies)
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