A senior official in Pakistan’s Gwadar port city announced on Wednesday that a Baloch rights group had agreed to end its protest after authorities promised to meet their demands and release detained activists. However, the group said that negotiations were still ongoing.
The Baloch Yakjehti Committee (BYC), advocating for the rights of the ethnic Baloch people, organized a rally in Gwadar on Sunday to protest alleged human rights abuses, extra-judicial killings, and enforced disappearances, which they attribute to the country’s security forces. The government and security agencies have denied these allegations.
Clashes occurred last Saturday between protesters and security forces in the Mastung district as the demonstrators were heading to Gwadar, resulting in injuries to over a dozen protesters. During this time, internet, mobile phone, and broadband services were shut down in parts of the province.
BYC leaders reported that several activists were arrested, while the government authorities claimed that a security person was killed and 16 others injured in “unprovoked assaults by violent protesters.”
Gwadar Assistant Commissioner Mir Jawad Zehri said that the negotiations had been successful, stating, “The Baloch Yakjehti Committee’s detained workers will be released. Mobile networks will be restored, and all roads will be cleared of obstacles. Gwadar BYC will end the sit-in.”
However, a BYC leader, Beberg Baloch, said that discussions were still ongoing with provincial officials and that they were waiting for the final acceptance of their demands. “BYC will call off its protests across Balochistan after the government accepts our demands, but the talks are likely to be finalized today,” he said, noting that the protests had continued for six consecutive days, with hundreds of members still in custody.
The BYC had previously submitted a list of demands to the government’s negotiating team, calling for an end to the use of force against rally participants in Gwadar and the rest of Balochistan, and the release of arrested activists. They also demanded that all highways in Balochistan be reopened immediately and that raids and harassment in Gwadar cease.
The group threatened to continue their sit-in if their conditions were not met or if any of their members faced harassment.
Gwadar, located along the Arabian Sea, is a key location in the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC). China has invested tens of billions of dollars in transportation, energy, and infrastructure projects in Pakistan. However, the initiative has faced challenges due to Pakistan’s financial struggles and attacks on Chinese targets by militants in Balochistan and other regions.
In response to the BYC protest in Gwadar, a Chinese diplomat in Pakistan urged all political forces and rights groups in Balochistan to “set aside” their differences and focus on the region’s economic development.
