QUETTA, Oct 11: Representatives of the Balochistan National Party-Mengal and Baloch Students Organization on Saturday threatened to observe a strike in colleges in Quetta on Monday if 47 students, arrested for protesting against the construction of the Gwadar deep seaport, were not released immediately.

Speaking at a press conference here, BNP-M’s secretary- general Habib Jalib Baloch and BSO’s chairman Amanullah Baloch accused the government of resorting to what they termed undemocratic methods to force nationalists to abandon their struggle against the port’s construction.

They said that 47 BSO activists were arrested from the Degree College’s hostel on Saturday evening on suspicion of being involved in lobbing a grenade on a police check-post adjacent to the educational institution. The grenade attack had occurred earlier in the day.

Representatives of the BNP-M and the BSO also condemned the government for the hostel’s closure, resulting in expulsion of students, saying that the move was in violation of rules, adding that most of the expelled students belonged to far-flung areas and had no alternative place to stay.

Urging the government to release their colleagues, both the party leaders called for the release of their activists arrested in Mastung, Khuzdar and Jaffarabad.

The government, they said, was trying to sabotage their planned public meeting, scheduled for Oct 17, as well as the BSO’s convention that was to begin in the Bolan Medical College on Saturday.

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