Gwadar police arrested in early hours of Monday over 20 protestors of ‘Haq Du Tehreek’ (HDT) in order to clear the Gwadar East Expressway and keep them from reaching the city port.

Gwadar Deputy Commissioner Izzat Nazeer Baloch told Dawn.com that the operation was conducted at 4am, and among those arrested was a senior leader of the protestors named Hussain Wadila.

Among the protestors' demands are stopping illegal fishing by trawlers in Balochistan’s maritime boundaries, recovery of missing persons, maximum concessions in border trade with Iran, end to narcotics and other Gwadar-related issues.

The latest series of sit-ins and protests began on Oct 27 — roughly a year after HDT emerged and held similar rallies.

HDT leader Maulana Hidayatur Rehman, while addressing protestors on Marine Drive road today, said, "We are giving one hour to the administration to release our 26 prisoners, including leader Hussain Wadila, or else the administration and the government will be responsible for the [resulting] situation."

Meanwhile, Balochistan Minister for Home Affairs Mir Ziaullah Langove said 18 protesters were arrested while talking to the media.

He said democratic protest was everyone's right and the provincial government's policy was to "negotiate wherever there is a protest".

He referred to the last year's protests, saying provincial officials had visited the sit-ins and held talks.

Langove said it was a "duty" of the government to accept Maulana Rehman's "legitimate demands", adding that he himself went for talks but the maulana did not arrive and instead sent a four-member committee when Rehman had himself asked for negotiations.

"We won't allow anyone to challenge the government's writ. Protecting citizens is our responsibility," the interior minister said, adding that the protesters had been requested to change the site of their demonstration as it was impacting the state's affairs.

Referring to the current situation on the ground, he said 150 tourists were stranded in Gwadar while Chinese residents were left restricted to their compound.

He also addressed the demands made and provided updates on them, saying that the whole province was demanding the recovery of missing persons, illegal trawling was being controlled and also assured resolving issues about customs, border trade and power charges.

Separately, addressing a press conference in Islamabad, Balochistan government spokesperson Farah Azeem Shah said, "The police was forced to take action as the [protest] participants were heading towards the [Gwadar] port."

She added that the action was taken on a "very limited scale so that the citizens were not affected".

The spokesperson asserted that the provincial government was still "resolute on solving the issues through negotiations and talks in an atmosphere of understanding".

Shah said that Balochistan Chief Minister Mir Abdul Quddus Bizenjo had visited Gwadar and ended a previous sit-in after negotiating with Maulana Rehman.

She said that "destroying the peace under the guise of protests and denying the basic rights of citizens does not happen in any religious society", alleging that the movement's participants' "conduct and behaviour are based on incitement".

"No one can be allowed to challenge the writ of the government and take matters into their own hands," she added.

No headway in negotiations

Negotiations between the Balochistan government and HDT leaders — reportedly not attended by Rehman and Wadila — had failed to make any headway on Saturday.

Tens of thousands of protesters had blocked the expressway leading to Gwadar port last month as well after what they said was the government’s failure to meet a November 20 deadline to implement their demands.

In December 2021, after more than a month of staging protests for their basic rights, the residents of Gwadar had called off a sit-in after successful negotiations with the government.

Rehman had said at the time that he had signed an agreement — including the demand for a complete ban on illegal fishing — with CM Bizenjo in front of the protesters and expressed the hope that it would be implemented.