Quetta protest finally ends as govt withdraws FIR

Opposition lawmakers leave Bijli Road police station

QUETTA:

The Balochistan government has withdrawn the FIR lodged against the opposition lawmakers for the chaos outside the provincial assembly building last month, after which the latter ended their protest at the Bijli Road police station in Quetta.

The opposition MPAs will decide their next course of action on Monday (today).

The Balochistan government had registered a case against 250 people, including 17 members of the opposition, over a scuffle during the budget session on June 18.

Opposition members have been protesting against the arrest for the past 14 days. There were more than six rounds of talks between the government and the opposition. The names of opposition members were removed from the FIR instead of the case being dismissed in the first phase.

However, the opposition lawmakers demanded that they would not end their protest until the FIR was withdrawn.

On Saturday night, provincial ministers Mir Zia Langau, Mir Arif Jan Mohammad Hasani and Mir Saleem Khosa went to parliamentary secretary Mubeen Khan Khilji at the Bijli Road police station where they informed the opposition about the withdrawal of case.

Read ‘No reason’ for MPAs to continue protest in Quetta

A notification read that on the ruling of Balochistan Assembly Speaker Mir Abdul Quddus Bizenjo, the Balochistan government had filed a case under Section 494 of the CRPC and Section 10 (c) of the Balochistan Prosecution Service Act 2003 against members of the assembly and others at the Bijli Road police station. “[The] FIR No. 47/2021 has been withdrawn in the public interest”.

On the withdrawal of FIR, opposition members ended their 14-day long protest on Quetta Power Road.
"Our demand for the withdrawal of the FIR has been met,” Opposition Leader in the Balochistan Assembly Malik Sikandar told reporters.

“Now we are ending our sit-in at the police station. However, we have reservations about the budget for the new financial year. Our protest will continue until they are addressed," he added.

Other opposition lawmakers including Malik Naseer Ahmad Shahwani and Sanaullah Baloch said the people of Balochistan had placed their trust in them. They claimed that there were “unnecessary” schemes of billions of rupees in the budget.

They maintained that they were trying to eradicate corruption in the province. They added that the people of Balochistan did not trust the government, but had confidence in the opposition.

The opposition MPAs also said they will not withdraw their petition against the chief minister. They claimed that the government had lodged a false case against opposition members in an attempt to “crush” them.