Sardar Akhtar Mengal, Mehmood Khan Achakzai, former National Party senator Mir Kabir Muhammad Shahi, and ANP leader Asghar Achakzai remained unhurt in the suicide attack as they had left the venue just a few minutes before the blast.
Opposition leaders vowed to continue holding protests across Balochistan after police arrested 260 people on Monday for alleged violent demonstrations and violation of Section 144.
The arrests came as Quetta and other parts of the province were brought to a virtual standstill as a result of a strike — announced by opposition parties to protest a recent suicide bombing, which claimed over a dozen lives.
Life across the province was also disrupted and due to road blocks, Balochistan remained cut off from the rest of the country, barring rail and aerial routes.
Clashes were also reported between protesters and the police. A senior police official was also taken to hospital with bullet injuries, officials said.
Workers and supporters of the Tehreek-i-Tahaffuz-i-Ayeen-i-Pakistan alliance blocked all national highways at different entry points, putting up barricades and big boulders in the morning to block all types of traffic. Transporters’ associations had already announced support for their protest.
Likewise, trade activities between Pakistan, Afghanistan and Iran were suspended due to the strike. Not a single truck or other vehicle crossed into the border towns of Chaman and Taftan due to the blockade on highways linking Balochistan with Afghanistan and Iran.
The airport and rail services, however, remained operational under the watchful eye of security personnel.
Besides roads and trade, businesses also remained shut and the supporters of the opposition parties patrolled the business hubs of the provincial capital, seemingly to enforce the strike.
Clashes erupted in the areas of Sariab, Airport Road, Pashtunabad, Nawa Killi, and Jinnah Road when police attempted to remove blockades from main roads.
Police removed the hurdles and did not allow the alliance workers to block intra-city roads.
The protesters, however, managed to block the Western and Eastern bypasses for a brief period, but police dispersed them by firing tear gas.
On Airport Road too, police fired in the air to disperse protesters who were blocking the road, while clashes were also reported from Sariab Road.
SSP Mohammad Baloch told Dawn that those detained had been sent to the district jail.
Private educational institutions, including schools and colleges, remained closed due to the protest.
However, government-run educational institutions and offices remained open, but very few employees could reach the secretariat and other offices due to low traffic.
In other parts of the province, over 60 people were arrested for violating Section 144, blocking the highways, and clashing with the security forces. The wheel-jam and shutter-down strike was also observed in Loralai, Zhob, Sibi. Nasirabad, Khuzdar, Kalat, Harnai, Mastung, Hub Bela, Kharan, Noshki, Qila Saifullah, Turbat, Panjgur, Gwadar, Dera Murad Jamali and other towns and cities. “Around 60 people were arrested in these towns,” said officials.
In KP, the opposition parties, as well as the ruling PTI, also organised demonstrations across the province.
The strike call was given by PkMAP, BNP, the PTI, the ANP, the National Party, and the MWM at a joint presser last week to protest the Sept 2 suicide bombing.
Sardar Akhtar Mengal, Mehmood Khan Achakzai, former senator Mir Kabir Muhammad Shahi, and ANP leader Asghar Achakzai remained unhurt in the attack as they had left just a few minutes before.
Addressing the media at the Quetta Press Club on Monday evening, PkMAP’s Lala Abdul Rauf, BNP’s Sajid Tareen Advocate, ANP’s Asghar Achakzai, National Party’s Aslam Baloch, Jamaat-e-Islami’s Zahid Akhtar, and PTI’s Dawood Shah Achakzai condemned what they called the government’s attempts to sabotage their strike. They decried baton charge, tear gas shelling, and mass arrests of peaceful protesters and announced a plan to hold more protest rallies.
The leaders announced that protests will be held on Sept 11 in front of press clubs across Balochistan, while a meeting of senior leaders has been scheduled for Sept 13 to finalise the alliance’s future course of action. They warned that if political workers and leaders detained across the province were not released, a tougher line of action would be announced at the Sept 13 meeting.
Former governor Malik Abdul Wali Kakar, Akhtar Hussain Langove, Shafqaat Langove, Jameel Mashwani, Abdul Hameed Mansoori, Mir Ghulam Nabi Marri, Kabir Afghan, and Ismatullah were also present at the press conference.
Traders, transporters, and businesses pledged support to opposition alliance
Leaders of six opposition parties — Balochistan National Party (BNP-Mengal), Pashtunkhwa Milli Awami Party (PkMAP), Tehreek Tahaffuz-i-Aain-i-Pakistan, Awami National Party (ANP), Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf, and National Party — strongly condemned the tragic incident in a meeting and observed a complete shutter-down and wheel-jam strike throughout the province.
They declared that during the strike highways, intercity roads, and routes leading to Quetta airport and railway station would be blocked. Other airports in the province would also be shut, with no air travel allowed.
Opposition leaders and their supporters also distributed pamphlets about the strike among traders, business centres, hotels, and the general public. They urged the business community and transporters to support the strike.
Trader organisations and transporters had already expressed their support for the strike call. The Chamber of Commerce and Industry, along with other business associations, also announced closure of businesses across the province in solidarity with the victims of the suicide bombing.
Though the government has not announced the closure of its educational institutions today, the Private Schools Association declared that all private schools, colleges, and universities would remain closed.