GRM leaders remanded to three-day police custody

They are accused of causing damage to public and private property

QUETTA:

A local court here on Saturday granted three-day physical remand of the Gwadar Rights Movement (GRM) leader Hussain Wadela and two other activists of the movement to crimes branch police. Police had arrested Wadela and other GRM supporters for allegedly causing damage to the public and private properties in Balochistan’s port city of Gwadar.

On the directives of Balochistan Home and Tribal Affairs department, Wadela and others were handed over to the crimes branch police in the case. The GRM leaders were produced before the court that granted a three-day physical remand, Rahib Buledi, the lawyer for the accused said. However, the investigation officer had demanded a seven-day remand of Wadela and others, which was rejected by the court.

The GRM has been protesting against the provincial and federal governments for last more than two months and demanding a reduction in the number of check posts, easier border trade, and a total end to deep-sea fish trawling in the sea next to Gwadar. Police have registered FIRs against a large number of supporters of the GRM. Maulana Hidayatur Rehman, the chief of the GRM and Naveed Kalmati, former Balochistan caretaker minister, have also been booked for allegedly inciting violent protests and causing damage to public and private properties. Both the leaders are at large.

Makran Division Commissioner Syed Faisal Ahmed said that the administration had arrested those GRM activists who had blocked the road leading to the seaport in Gwadar. He said some of the GRM leaders had voluntarily surrendered before the police after the registration of FIRs against them. “There is no political victimisation of anyone in these cases,” the commissioner stated. However, Maualana Hidayat has accused the administration of subjecting GRM activists to political victimisation in Gwadar and other parts of Makran Division.