QUETTA, July 12: The Baloch Students Organisation (BSO) on Thursday staged a demonstration outside the Quetta Press Club in protest against the arrest of Baloch leaders and activists and army operation in the province.

The students demanded the release of BSO members and activists of other Baloch political parties and said that the military operation or arrests could not suppress their movement.

The protesters held the pictures of detained leaders, including BNP-Mengal chief Sardar Akhtar Mengal and Baloch National Movement chairman Ghulam Mohammad Baloch, and raised slogans against the government.

Addressing the rally, Baloch leaders Zahid Baloch, Nasir Jani, Hayee Baloch and Qaim Khan alleged that intelligence agencies had arrested hundreds of Baloch youths in violation of the fundamental rights and law.

They said the oppressors who had occupied the Baloch land had been plundering their resources for the past six decades.

The leaders accused police and intelligence agencies of raiding the houses of activists of nationalist parties and said that detainees were tortured in secret cells. They said the Baloch people would continue struggle till the achievement of their fundamental rights.

They criticised the government’s lukewarm response to the victims of flood and rains in the province and said that this had exposed the government’s claim of being a well-wisher of the Baloch people.

The speakers urged the Balochs to shun their differences and forge unity to defeat the looters and protect their rights and land.