QUETTA, May 20: Four leaders of the Balochistan National Party (Mengal), including party secretary-general Habib Jalib Baloch, were arrested at the end of a protest rally outside the press club here on Sunday.

Mr Jalib, Malik Wali Kakar, Hasan Baloch and Abdur Razzak Lango were taken into police custody and sent to the Bijli police station.

After the arrest of the leaders, activists of the BNP-M and the Baloch Students Organisation blocked the Sariab road and chanted slogans against the government and police.

The BNP-M announced rallies on May 20 in Quetta and other districts of the province in protest against the arrest of leaders and workers, military operation in Balochistan and mistreatment of party chief Sardar Akhtar Mengal in the Karachi prison.

The BNP-M leaders and activists gathered outside the Quetta Press Club and raised anti-Musharraf slogans in protest against the military operation in Balochistan. Habib Jalib, Malik Wali Kakar, Hasan Baloch,

Abdur Razzak Baloch, Majid Kakar and Musa Baloch addressed the rally.

Mr Jalib said the government had used all methods to suppress the Baloch people’s political movement. He alleged that the Musharraf government through military operation had killed hundreds of people, including Baloch leader Nawab Akbar Bugti.

BNP-M secretary-general accused intelligence agencies of torturing Baloch youths in secret cells. He held the government responsible for sabotaging the BNP-M rallies in Khuzdar, Quetta and other parts of the province.

Mr Jalib said the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal being a coalition partner in the PML-led government in the province was responsible for all wrongdoings of the government.