Leader of the Gwadar protest movement, Haq Do Tehreek (HDT), Maulana Hidayat Ur Rehman has been in Balochistan jail for two months over a number of charges, including causing damages to public and private properties, with his bail application being rejected last week.
Authorities in Pakistan are critical of dissenting voices and tend to take strict measures to silence them. Last month, Karachi Central Jail released a Member of the National Assembly and Pashtun Tahafuz Movement leader Ali Wazir after two years of incarceration in sedition cases.
The HDT has been protesting against the provincial government for the last more than two months. The HDT has been demanding an end to illegal fishing/trawling and unnecessary check posts.
The Gwadar police had arrested Maulana Hidayat Ur Rehman outside a local court where he had appeared for a hearing related to charges against him for the killing of a policeman during one of the protest demonstrations led by him.
Police had registered a First Information Report against Rehman and other leaders of the movement, including the former caretaker provincial minister Mir Naveed Kalmati, for causing damages to public and private properties.
The arrest has also drawn severe condemnations from the legal fraternity for taking Rehman as a prisoner within the court premises.
Politicians and human rights defenders have also condemned the arrest.
