KARACHI: A senior official in Pakistan’s southwestern Balochistan province said on Tuesday the government had made progress on all demands presented by protestors in Gwadar port city while urging them to end their prolonged sit-in.
Protest in Pakistan’s strategic Gwadar city, which is at the heart of a multibillion-dollar regional connectivity project being carried out by China and Pakistan, has been going on for the last three weeks in which its residents have been demanding their basic rights.
At least four rounds of talks have been held between the officials of Balochistan and protestors since the beginning of the sit-in, one of them led by Zahoor Ahmed Buledi, the provincial minister for planning and development, who said the government, civil administration and notables of the area had been constantly in touch with the demonstrators.
The residents of Gwadar, who are mostly associated with the fishing industry and benefit from border trade, have been seeking, among other things, an action against illegal fishing trawlers in their waters, opening of border with Iran and removal of unnecessary checkpoints in their area.
“They presented twelve demands, four of them were major while others were minor,” Buledi told Arab News. “There has been progress on almost all the twelve demands: Trawling has decreased in the sea to a great extent, the border trade management system has improved and the issue of check posts has been largely addressed.”
He said the Balochistan administration had undertaken several development projects for Makran division, adding that major changes would soon become visible.
However, Maulana Hidayat-ur-Rehman, a Jamaat-e-Islami politician who has been leading the protest, said the provincial authorities had met some of the minor demands but major ones were yet to be fulfilled.
“There is some progress but our major issues still remain outstanding,” he told Arab News. “There is no progress on border trade, no action against the trawler mafia and our demand regarding checkpoints have not been fulfilled as well.”
“We will have a major protest on December 10 since we do not have any hope they will implement the notification regarding our major issues,” he added. “The Balochistan government is striving but is unable to resolve our problems. Probably, it is not in their hands.”
Gwadar is located in Pakistan’s impoverished southwestern Balochistan province, a sparsely populated, mountainous, desert region bordering Afghanistan and Iran.
China is involved in the development of the Gwadar port on the Arabian Sea as part of a $60 billion China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, which is itself part of China's Belt and Road infrastructure project. But locals of the city have long complained the Chinese presence and investment in the area have done little to improve their lives, particularly with regards to water scarcity and jobs.
Last month, thousands of women marched on the streets of Gwadar, demanding basic rights and action against illegal trawling in the Arabian Sea.
Speaking to Arab News on Tuesday, Sameera Siddique, a woman leader of the protesters said the provincial leaders were unable to resolve the issue which had forced women to become part of the protest.
“A mother can tolerate anything but not the hunger of her children, she can bear anything but not that her brother becomes a drug addict and her people are humiliated at the check posts,” Siddique said, adding she is expecting more women in the December 10 protest.
Zainab Aslam, a student and activist, said Gwadar was never seen from the lens of the locals and a very beautiful picture of the city was presented to the outside world.
“There is another picture as well where its residents face problems, issues and non-provision of basic rights,” she continued. “We are protesting for the last twenty days that our sources of income should not be snatched away from us. Our men go in the morning to the sea and border area and return with empty hands. The rulers cannot even begin to imagine our pain.”
Balochistan government urges Gwadar residents to end weeks-long protest over rights
https://arab.news/2nf33
Balochistan government urges Gwadar residents to end weeks-long protest over rights
- A demontration against lack of basic facilities have been going on in Pakistan’s strategic port city of Gwadar for over three weeks
- Provincial minister Zahoor Ahmed Buledi says the government has made progress on all demands presented by the protestors
Tens of thousands flee northwest Pakistan over fears of military operation
- More than 70,000 people, mostly women and children, have fled remote Tirah region bordering Afghanistan
- Government says no military operation underway or planned in Tirah, a town in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province
BARA, Pakistan: More than 70,000 people, mostly women and children, have fled a remote region in northwestern Pakistan bordering Afghanistan over uncertainty of a military operation against the Pakistani Taliban, residents and officials said Tuesday.
Pakistan’s Defense Minister Khawaja Mohammad Asif has denied the claim by residents and provincial authorities. He said no military operation was underway or planned in Tirah, a town in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.
Speaking at a news conference in Islamabad, he said harsh weather, rather than military action, was driving the migration. His comments came weeks after residents started fleeing Tirah over fears of a possible army operation.
The exodus began a month after mosque loudspeakers urged residents to leave Tirah by Jan. 23 to avoid potential fighting. Last August, Pakistan launched a military operation against Pakistani Taliban in the Bajau r district in the northwest, displacing hundreds of thousands of people.
Shafi Jan, a spokesman for the provincial government in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, posted on X that he held the federal government responsible for the ordeal of the displaced people, saying authorities in Islamabad were retracting their earlier position about the military operation.
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Suhail Afridi, whose party is led by imprisoned former Prime Minister Imran Khan, has criticized the military and said his government will not allow troops to launch a full-scale operation in Tirah.
The military says it will continue intelligence-based operations against Pakistani Taliban, who are known as Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan, or TTP. Though a separate group, it has been emboldened since the Afghan
Taliban returned to power in 2021. Authorities say many TTP leaders and fighters have found sanctuary in Afghanistan and that hundreds of them have crossed into Tirah, often using residents as human shields when militant hideouts are raided.
Caught in the middle are the residents of Tirah, who continued arriving in Bara.
So far, local authorities have registered roughly 10,000 families — about 70,000 people — from Tirah, which has a population of around 150,000, said Talha Rafiq Alam, a local government administrator overseeing the relief effort. He said the registration deadline, originally set for Jan. 23, has been extended to Feb. 5.
He said the displaced would be able to return once the law-and-order situation improves.
Among those arriving in Bara and nearby towns was 35-year-old Zar Badshah, who said he left with his wife and four children after the authorities ordered an evacuation. He said mortar shells had exploded in villages in recent weeks, killing a woman and wounding four children in his village. “Community elders told us to leave. They instructed us to evacuate to safer places,” he said.
At a government school in Bara, hundreds of displaced lined up outside registration centers, waiting to be enrolled to receive government assistance. Many complained the process was slow.
Narendra Singh, 27, said members of the minority Sikh community also fled Tirah after food shortages worsened, exacerbated by heavy snowfall and uncertain security.
“There was a severe shortage of food items in Tirah, and that forced us to leave,” he said.
Tirah gained national attention in September, after an explosion at a compound allegedly used to store bomb-making materials killed at least 24 people. Authorities said most of the dead were militants linked to the TTP, though local leaders disputed that account, saying civilians, including women and children, were among the dead.
