QUETTA: A province-wide wheel-jam and shutter-down strike has been announced for September 8 in Balochistan in response to a devastating suicide bombing at a Balochistan National Party-Mengal (BNP-M) rally.
The announcement was made during a press conference in Quetta, where BNP-M Chief Sardar Akhtar Jan Mengal and Mahmood Khan Achakzai, head of the Movement for the Protection of the Constitution of Pakistan, condemned the attack and called for peaceful protests across the province.
Sardar Akhtar Jan Mengal described the incident as “heart-wrenching,” noting that just 15 minutes before the blast, BNP-M workers were chanting “Pakistan Zindabad” (Long Live Pakistan).
He questioned the failure of state institutions to prevent such attacks, referencing the assassination of Nawab Akbar Bugti in 2006. “If lessons had been learned from the assassination of Nawab Akbar Bugti, we would not have seen this day,” Mengal stated, highlighting a pattern of violence in the region.
Mahmood Khan Achakzai, the designated opposition leader in the National Assembly, condemned the attack as an assault on humanity.
He announced that on September 8, protests would span from Gwadar to Chaman, with roads, transport, and railway stations closed across Balochistan. “We will hold peaceful public protests throughout the province,” Achakzai said. “We can burn all the police stations in Balochistan, but we choose to protest peacefully. Our slogan will be ‘Long Live Democracy.’”
Achakzai also addressed broader grievances, accusing state institutions of treating Baloch and Pashtun communities as “slaves” rather than equal citizens. He demanded the release of political prisoners and the recovery of missing persons, particularly children, who he claimed have been subjected to enforced disappearances. “This government is a thief, but we demand the release of prisoners and the recovery of our missing children,” he said, adding that the relationship between the state and the people of Balochistan is one of “coercion and force.”
