Sardar Akhtar Mengal, chief of his faction of the Balochistan National Party (BNP-M), announced on Wednesday an end to his party’s 20-day-long sit-in at the Lakpass area of Mastung district against the arrest of Baloch activists, adding that they would launch a public outreach movement instead.

The BNP-M had begun a “long march” from Wadh to Quetta on March 28 to protest the arrests of Baloch Yakjehti Committee (BYC) leaders and activists, including Mahrang Baloch and Sammi Deen Baloch, as well as a crackdown on their sit-in in Quetta. Sammi was released on April 1.

Earlier this month, Mengal had anno­u­nced that the party would march on Quetta on April 6 — after three rounds of negotiations had failed to make any progress — but was kept at bay by the government.

Addressing a press conference in Mastung today, Mengal called off the sit-in, saying: “We believe in a peaceful struggle. We are not ending the movement but will initiate a public outreach movement from today.”

He announced that the BNP-M would organise rallies and protests at district level across Balochistan in the coming days.

“In the first phase, we would hold protest rallies in Mastung, Kalat, Khuzdar and Surab. In the second stage, these rallies would be held in areas of Turbat, Gwadar and Makran,” Mengal explained.

He added that the third phase of his protest movement would engage the public in the Nasirabad, Jaffarabad and Dera Murad Jamali districts, along with other areas of Balochistan.

Detailing his protest plan further, the BNP-M chief said the first rally would be organised in Mastung but did not specify a date. A rally would then be held in Kalat on April 20, he added.

Speaking about Baloch activists, Mengal said Mahrang was arrested “unconstitutionally”. He lamented: “The state created obstacles in our peaceful long march.”

There wasn’t a single moment without danger at Lakpass,“ Mengal claimed during the media talk.

“All others have the right to protest but we don’t?” he quipped, adding that protests were allowed on the Kashmir issue but not on Balochistan.

The BNP-M president further claimed that the provincial government’s delegation that held negotiations with his party “expressed its helplessness”.

Following today’s announcement, former Senate chairman Sadiq Sanjrani, who visited the protest camp last week, thanked Mengal for his decision.

According to a statement by Sanjrani, he spoke on the phone with the BNP-M chief and termed his decision to call off the sit-in peacefully the “best decision”.

CM Bugti slams BYC, affirms right to protest

Meanwhile, Balochistan Chief Minister Sarfraz Bugti lashed out at the BYC, terming its activists “abettors” of separatists.

Responding to a query during a press conference in Islamabad, CM Bugti said: “Those who call themselves human rights activists, the BYC, are not registered anywhere.

“They burn Pakistan’s flag wherever they pass through. […] They are not peaceful, they are abettors of those from the separatist movement and terrorists,” he alleged.

On the case against Mahrang over her Quetta protest, for which the Balochistan High Court has told her lawyers to approach the provincial government, Bugti said the courts would decide on it.

The chief minister asserted that everyone had the right to protest but the government had the authority to determine the venue.

CM Bugti stated that Balochistan’s people had political rights, highlighting that various politicians hailing from the province had been part of the parliament for many years.

“This perception […] it would be inappropriate to say there is absolutely no management of elections in this country. A little bit of management takes place everywhere,” Bugti said.

Also addressing the press conference, recently appointed Science and Tech Minister Khalid Magsi termed CM Bugti’s approach to the talks with BNP-M as “very good”.

“The chief minister took a stand that we do not want to harden the political system […] but make way for it,” he said. The Balochistan Awami Party leader said the “state has a way of functioning, on which it cannot compromise”.

Sit-in amid deadlock in talks

On March 29 — the sit-in’s second day — the BNP-M claimed that more than 250 of its workers had been arrested near Mastung’s Lakpass. The party has also complained of tear gas being used to disperse its supporters.

On April 6, the BNP-M could not move towards Quetta as per its plan as a large contingent of law enforcers were deployed around the protest camp in Mastung to arrest Mengal if he proceeded ahead.

The BNP-M had then called for roadblocks and a shutter-down strike across Balochistan the next day to protest obstructions in their march to Quetta.

The highways between Quetta and Karachi, as well as Quetta and Taftan, have remained closed due to the sit-in, leading to difficulties for commuters and financial losses for the business community.

Amid a deadlock in talks with the government, Mengal held a multiparty conference (MPC) on Monday, where he rejected the recent decisions of the National Security Council, especially its “hard-state” policy.

The MPC was attended by leaders of the Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam—Fazl, both factions of the National Party, Awami National Party, Jamaat-i-Islami and Pashtoon Tahaf­fuz Mov­e­ment, among others.

Additional input from Nadir Guramani