QUETTA: Hundreds of Jamaat-i-Islami workers and supporters staged a protest sit-in in front of the Quetta Press Club on Sunday against the non-implementation of an agreement signed by the government with Maulana Hidayat-Ur-Rehman and other leaders of Gwadar Ko Haq Do movement.

The participants of the sit-in, carrying party flags, placards and banners inscribed with their demands, marched on various roads of the provincial capital and gathered at the Quetta Press Club, staging a sit-in there.

They chanted slogans against the federal and provincial governments.

Speaking to protesters, Maulana Hashmi and Maulana Hidayat-Ur-Rehman of Jamaat-i-Islami warned that if the government violated the agreement signed in Gwadar and issues of Quetta were not resolved, they would stage a million march next month in Quetta in which people from entire Balochistan would participate.

They said that the people of Quetta were facing a large number of problems as universities, hospitals and other offices were closed due to protests of the people as their problems had not been resolved by the government.

They said that the people were also deprived of gas and electricity due to massive load-shedding in the extremely cold weather. Maulana Hidayat-Ur-Rehman asked the people of Quetta to show Gwadar people-like spirit and courage to fight for their rights.

He said it was a great injustice that the people of Balochistan could not use the coast and resources of their province and vowed to launch a struggle to achieve constitutional rights of the people of the province which the federal and provincial governments were denying them.

He said the government had promised to abolish check posts, but these posts still existed, creating serious problems for the masses in their movement.

Published in Dawn, February 21st, 2022