Balochistan parties announce strike on Sept 8 after Quetta blast

Balochistan parties announce strike on Sept 8 after Quetta blast

In reaction to the suicide blast at Shahwani Stadium, leaders of Pashtunkhwa Milli Awami Party, Balochistan National Party, National Party, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf, Majlis Wahdat-e-Muslimeen, and other political groups held a joint press conference at Quetta Press Club. They announced a complete wheel-jam and shutter-down strike across Balochistan on 8 September under the banner of the All Parties Conference Balochistan.

According to the decision, transport, roads, and railway operations will remain completely suspended from Gwadar to Chaman. The press conference was attended by Sardar Akhtar Mengal, Asghar Khan Achakzai, Mir Kabir Muhammad Shahi, and Vilayat Hussain Dawood Shah.

Speaking on the occasion, Mehmood Khan Achakzai said:
“The Quran says that killing one innocent person is like killing all of humanity. Yet we do not understand what our crime is. What did we say in the rally that we had to face this tragedy? Seventy-five years have passed, but the people are still carrying the chains of slavery. We will never accept the master-slave relationship. Balochistan is part of Pakistan, and we all are equal. We believe in brotherhood, not division.”

He emphasized that the protest on 8 September will be peaceful, but warned that if their children were targeted again, no one would be able to pass through the roads. He said every nation must have the right over its homeland — Baloch in Balochistan, Sindhis in Sindh, Punjabis in Punjab. He added that they raise their children with halal earnings and oppose drug smuggling.

Achakzai declared:
“We will continue to hold rallies, and we will hold them openly. Our slogan will remain: Long live democracy. If you want to impose a master-slave relationship, this is not consent but oppression. We demand the release of political prisoners and recovery of missing persons. If you want to kill us, then do so — but know that our killers are state institutions.”

BNP Chief Sardar Akhtar Jan Mengal also spoke, saying:
“On the night of 2 September, a heart-wrenching incident occurred. Fourteen of our workers and one police constable were martyred. Just 15 minutes before the blast, our workers were chanting slogans of Pakistan Zindabad. This is not the first tragedy; many such incidents have taken place before. Why do state institutions not know where these suicide bombers come from? If lessons had been learned from the killing of Nawab Akbar Bugti in 2006, today would have been different. This loss is not just BNP’s, and it will not go in vain.”