Pakistan: Balochistan National Party holds strike amid Wadh unrest

Balochistan [Pakistan], July 5 : Balochistan National Party (BNP-Mengal) held a wheel-jam strike across the province on Monday to protest against the worsening law and order situation in the Wadh area of the Khuzdar district of Balochistan, Pakistan-based Dawn reported.

During the protest, hundreds of BNP-M workers and leaders, including members of the provincial and national assemblies gathered at various points in different towns and cities and blocked the highways.

The situation in Wadh has been tense for the last week because of the presence of a large number of armed men there.

In Balochistan's Quetta, the party workers, led by their leaders Mir Naseer Ahmed Shahwani, Mir Akhtar Hussain Langove and Ahmed Nawaz Baloch, blocked the Quetta-Karachi and Quetta-Taftan highways.

Barricades and boulders were put on the highway near Luck Pass, closing the road for all kinds of vehicles. No passenger coach could leave for its destination till the end of the strike, as per Dawn.

Dawn is a Pakistani English-language newspaper.

Passengers travelling in buses and other private vehicles faced difficulties at various points, especially women and children who suffered a lot due to the hot temperature and lack of drinking water and food.

The wheel-jam strike was also observed in Chagai, Noshki, Barkhan, Gwadar, Turbat, Panjgur, Dera Murad Jamali, Dera Allahyar, Bolan, Sibi, Loralai and other towns and cities of Balochistan.

"We have called off our successful wheel-jam strike before the time in view of the sufferings of the people, including women and children travelling for different areas of Balochistan," a senior BNP-M leader said, adding the people of Balochistan have given full response to the wheel-jam strike across the province.

The BNP-M Secretary General Waja Jahanzeb Baloch announced that a shutter-down strike would be observed throughout the province on July 8, reported Dawn.

The Balochistan government deployed a heavy contingent of law enforcement personnel during the strike to meet any untoward incident. However, no such incident was reported from any area of the province.

Waja Jehanzaib Baloch further stated that a shutter-down strike would be observed on July 14 throughout Balochistan, in opposition to what he referred to as political engineering, according to The Express Tribune.