Quetta comes to a halt on BYC call a day after protesters, LEAs clash

Quetta and other parts of Balochistan observed a shutter-down strike on Saturday in response to the Baloch Yakjehti Committee’s (BYC) call, a day after its members in the provincial capital faced a police crackdown as they protested against alleged enforced disappearances.

The Balochistan government and the BYC had reported casualties on their sides as a result of each other’s actions — with the activist group claiming three dead and 13 others suffering injuries and the police saying around 10 of their personnel were hurt.

Subsequently, BYC chief organiser Dr Mahrang Baloch late last night issued a call for a shutter-down strike across the province, in response to the alleged casualties resulting from the police action.

The BYC, sharing her statement in the Balochi language on X, quoted her as announcing “shutting down the entire Balochistan against […] the state violence”.

“There will be a shutter-down and wheel-jam strike in the entire Balochistan tomorrow,” the statement added. The BYC further announced staging another sit-in at Quetta’s Sariab Road with bodies of the alleged casualties from yesterday.

Later in the day, the BYC shared purported pictures of closed shops and roads in Chagai District’s Dalbandin city, as well as Khuzdar, Washuk, and Surab districts.

It also posted purported visuals of protests held in Mastung, Dera Murad Jamali and Turbat, where demonstrators burned tyres to block roads.

According to a Dawn.com correspondent in Quetta, mobile services have been suspended in Quetta since Friday night while data services had been down since Thursday.

However, no notification officially announcing the suspension has been issued yet.

Dawn.com has reached out to the Balochistan government for comment.

Mahrang, others arrested: BYC

After Mahrang’s strike call, the BYC claimed she and other protesters had been arrested earlier today from the Quetta sit-in while the alleged bodies were “seized”.

“Today, at 5:30am, security forces carried out a brutal pre-dawn raid on the sit-in. Baloch women, children, and peaceful protesters were subjected to extreme violence,” the BYC said on X.

“The authorities forcibly seized the dead bodies that protesters had planned to offer funeral prayers for today. BYC organiser Dr Mahrang Baloch, along with many others, was dragged and arrested,” it claimed.

The organisation also shared a night-time video showing police personnel wielding batons and dragging some women. Another video showed dozens of policemen gathered on a road.

The protesters staging the Sariab Road sit-in were demanding the “release of its central committee member Bebarg Baloch, his brother Hammal, Dr Ilyas, and others who has been forcibly disappeared, as well as the release of Baloch woman Saeeda and several others”, the BYC recalled.

There were conflicting reports about the casualties yesterday, with Bolan Medical College Hospital sources saying two bodies were brought there while one body and nine injured, including a policewoman, were received at Civil Hospital.

On her part, Mahrang claimed that three people were killed and 13 others injured during the police action while they were protesting against the arrest of BYC leader Bebarg and four others a few days ago.

Meanwhile, a Balochistan government spokesperson claimed that protesters pelted the police with stones and beat them up, injuring 10 personnel, including a policewoman.

Similarly, a complete shutter-down strike and wheel jam were observed in Turbat, with the BYC staging a rally and sit-in at Shaheed Fida Chowk.

In the Malikabad area of Turbat, unidentified men on motorcycles fired gunshots at the protesters, who were monitoring the strike, injuring two children. They were rushed to the hospital for medical treatment.

The nearby Panjgur was also shut down in response to the call.

Balochistan Bar Council, PTI condemn ‘brutal use of force’

Separately, the Balochistan Bar Council and the PTI condemned the police action against the protesters.

In a statement, the bar council announced a boycott of court proceedings across the province in protest of yesterday’s incident.

It demanded that the arrested “women, children and students” be released immediately and that “individuals who had gone missing from Sariab be brought before the public”. It further called on the Balochistan government to bear the expenses of the injured people’s medical treatment.

Reiterating the BYC’s claims on the casualties, the bar council termed the crackdown as “anxiousness” displayed by the provincial government. It condemned the “worst violence, violation of human rights and unconstitutional measures”.

The bar added: “The incompetent provincial government of the PPP has set the worst example of dictatorship by using coercion and power to extend its rule.”

It asserted that the Balochistan government had “completely failed to protect the lives and properties” of the province’s people.

The PTI also strongly condemned the “excessive and brutal use of force against the peaceful protesters” while highlighting the reported casualties.

“The oppressive regime has once again crossed all boundaries of brutality in its desperate attempt to cling to power, even at the cost of national unity and integrity,” a statement by PTI’s Information Secretary Sheikh Waqqas Akram said.

It demanded “immediate accountability for those responsible for the killing and injuring of peaceful demonstrators” and that all missing persons be presented before a court of law.

“If any individual is found guilty, they should be dealt with in accordance with legal procedures. However, enforced disappearances are inhumane, unlawful, and a blatant violation of human rights. This abhorrent practice must be brought to an immediate end,” the PTI asserted.

The opposition party urged the government to heed the “legitimate demands of the BYC protesters and take immediate steps to address their genuine grievances”.

“Such coercive and oppressive measures will not serve the interests of those unlawfully clinging to power; instead, they will only exacerbate the already volatile situation,” it said, adding it stood with the people of Balochistan.