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BNP acting chief arrested

* Party calls for shutter-down today, wheel-jam strike tomorrow

By Malik Siraj Akbar

QUETTA: The arrests of Balochistan National Party (BNP) leaders continued in Balochistan on Friday, amid demonstrations in various parts of the province and a boycott of courts by lawyers in protest against the government’s crackdown against party leaders.

Police arrested Sajid Tareen, the BNP’s acting chief, from the Quetta Press Club premises along with a number of other party workers under the Maintenance of Public Order Ordinance (MPO).

Lawyers in Balochistan boycotted court proceedings on Friday and announced to continue the boycott on Saturday.

A shutter-down strike will be observed in Quetta and elsewhere in the province today (Saturday) on the call by BNP against the crackdown, which will be followed by a wheel-jam strike tomorrow (Sunday).

“So far, the government has rounded up around seven hundred BNP workers,” said Sardar Akhtar Mengal, the BNP president, while talking to Daily Times from the Sakran Jail over the phone. “Such measures are unlikely to diminish our enthusiasm and steadfastness, and instead, this crackdown will popularise our cause,” he said.

The BNP has also announced to block all national highways that connect Balochistan with the rest of the country during President Musharraf’s visit to Balochistan next week. Workers and supporters of the BNP and the National Party held protest demonstrations in various districts of Balochistan against Mengal and other BNP activists’ arrests.

KHUZDAR: BNP activists held a protest procession in Khuzdar city that ended in front of the local press club. The participants chanted slogans against the Balochistan government and demanded the immediate release of Mengal and other BNP leaders and activists. Speakers on the occasion said that the government was trying to stop “peaceful and democratic” protests of the party, which, they said, would compel them to join the militant struggle against the government. They appealed to the people to observe a shutter-down strike on Saturday and a wheel-jam strike on Sunday.

A shutter-down strike was observed in Khuzdar on a call of by Baloch Students Organisation (BSO) as a protest against the arrest of BSO President Mohyuddin Baloch.

DALBANDIN: A protest rally was also held in Dalbandin.

GWADAR: The National Party staged a demonstration in Gwadar district to express solidarity with the detained BNP leaders. Shakil Baloch, the National Party deputy secretary general, said that the Baloch would never give up their political struggle, which, he said, was for gaining the ownership of their natural resources.

AFP adds: Police on Friday fired teargas after rioters torched two buses and a jeep in protest at the arrest of various nationalist leaders, officials said.

The members of the BSO also erected roadblocks on a main road in the provincial Quetta and pelted passing cars with stones, senior police official Abdul Qadir Thabo said. “Police have removed all roadblocks and opened the road” after using teargas to disperse the protesters, Thabo said, adding that no arrests were made.

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