The Baloch Yakjehti Committee, which advocates for the rights of ethnic Baloch people, has accused Pakistani authorities of suspending the internet and arresting dozens of its members in Pakistan’s southwestern Balochistan province. This occurred a day before a planned protest in the port city of Gwadar.
Led by 31-year-old human rights activist Dr. Mahrang Baloch, the BYC had organized the ‘Baloch Raji Muchi,’ or Baloch National Gathering, in Gwadar. The purpose of the gathering was to rally against alleged human rights abuses and the heavy deployment of security forces in the region.
Balochistan province, which borders Iran and Afghanistan, has been the site of a low-level insurgency for the last two decades by separatists who claim to be fighting against the unfair exploitation of the province’s wealth by the federation. The Pakistani state denies these allegations.
The BYC had been using social media platforms to mobilize and invite people from across Balochistan for the gathering, which was scheduled to take place on Sunday at the Gwadar Marine Drive, an important thoroughfare in the coastal city.
According to Baloch, the authorities have started blocking highways in Balochistan in an attempt to intercept convoys of Baloch people heading to the gathering. Additionally, police have reportedly arrested more than 100 BYC members from various districts of Balochistan.
There has been a complete blackout of internet in Gwadar and Kech districts since Friday evening, and mobile services are likely to be suspended. The BYC is concerned that the government will intensify its crackdown against its members, as they have already registered four FIRs (first information reports) against their members in the Kalat and Hub districts.
Shahid Rind, a spokesman for the Balochistan government, denied the allegations of a crackdown on the BYC and the internet suspension in Gwadar. He stated that the constitution of Pakistan gives people the right to a peaceful gathering, but the government has the right to decide the venue for it.
Several people in Gwadar and Turbat districts confirmed to Arab News that mobile Internet had been suspended in both districts since Friday evening.
Gwadar separated from the Arabian Sea is located as a pivot point of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor under which Beijing has invested a huge amount of money in the transport, energy, and infrastructure sectors of Pakistan. Nevertheless, issues of the financial crisis and aggression against the Chinese projects by the Baloch militants and other groups in Pakistan have been doses to the project.
