Maulana Hidayatur Rehman Baloch, the leader of Gwadar’s rights movement Haq Do Tehreek (HDT), was arrested by local authorities on Friday in a bid to thwart his visit to the border town of Chaman where he was going to attend a sit-in against the government’s new policy regarding the Afghan border crossing.
Authorities said that the purpose of Rehman’s scheduled trip to Chaman was to demonstrate solidarity with the ongoing sit-in protest, arranged by several political parties and traders, against the government’s recently implemented policy for the Afghan border crossing, which necessitates a passport and a legitimate visa.
A group of police officials, supervised by a high-ranking officer, came to Al-Falah House, the regional office of Jamaat-i-Islami located on Al-Gillani Street in Gwadar, and requested Mr. Rehman to cancel his visit to Chaman due to concerns about security.
Abdul Wali Shakir, the representative of the Jamaat, expressed that Maulana Hidayat had been confined to his residence for more than 24 hours. He expressed disappointment that this action was taken even though the party had promised the inspector general of police and other authorities that they would promote lawfulness and peace.
Earlier, on Thursday, former lawmaker Mohsin Dawar was also stopped from attending said protest in Chaman.
“Local authorities in Quetta and Chaman stopped me from participating in the protest in Chaman. A few weeks ago,I was not allowed to participate in our party’s event in Bajaur.The playing field is being leveled for a few. We stand in solidarity with the Chaman sit-in,” he posted on X (formerly Twitter).
