Tension prevails in Gwadar
Pakistan has a long list of projects that it wants financed, including a tripartite agreement between China, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia for an oil refinery in Gwadar. photo: file
Tension prevailed in Gwadar, Pakistan's port city, for the fourth straight day as the Gwadar Rights Movement (GRM) activists continued to stage protest demonstrations for the acceptance of their demands.
Police arrested the GRM activists in Turbat and other parts of the Makran Division of Balochistan.
Balochistan Home Minister Mir Ziaullah Langove on Thursday accused Maulana Hidayatur Rehman, the chief of Gwadar Haq Do Tehreek, of making the population hostage for more than two months.
Addressing a news conference at the Chief Minister Secretariat, Langove lashed out at the Maulana and other supporters of the GRM.
Parliamentary Secretary of Information Mitha Khan Kakar, Inspector General of Police Abdul Khaliq Sheikh, and other high-level officials were present.
Cellular and mobile services remained suspended in the port city following the ongoing protests and agitation.
The Balochistan government has also imposed Section 144 on pillion riding and the display of weapons in Gwadar to maintain law and order.
"The protesters are causing damages to public and private properties in Gwadar," Langove claimed.
However, the GRM leaders claimed the government was using force against the masses to quell, according to them, a peaceful protest. Angry protesters pelted stones and bricks at the policemen deployed in Gwadar.
The minister stated that the provincial ministers held repeated negotiations with Maulana Rehman and other leaders of the GRM. He claimed that most of the demands of the Maulana and other leaders were met and that the government was serious about resolving the issues faced by the people of Gwadar.
“Forty-two demands of the GRM have already been accepted by the government,” the minister claimed.
Roads and streets of the port city wore a deserted look as baton-wielding policemen were deployed in and around the city.
The GRM claimed that the police had arrested a large number of its activists. Maulana Rehman demanded of the government to release all arrested activists and address the issues of the people of Gwadar.
Langove stated that Gwadar was the future of Pakistan and the government was committed to developing Gwadar and other parts of Balochistan and bringing them at par with other developed parts of the country.