"Why protest by ethnic Baloch has put Pakistan’s key port of Gwadar on edge" 31 July 2024

Tensions are high in Pakistan’s port city of Gwadar in the southwestern Balochistan province where an ethnic Baloch group has been protesting for days, following the arrests of some of their members and deadly clashes with security forces. Gwadar is Pakistan’s only deep-sea port on the Arabian Sea, and is a key route of the $60bn China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC)...

The latest tensions in the port city began on Friday after the Baloch Yakjehti Committee (BYC) gave a call to demonstrate against alleged human rights violations, enforced disappearances and extrajudicial killings of people in Balochistan, Pakistan’s largest and poorest province...

The BYC claims security forces opened fire during one such clash on Saturday in Mastung district, killing one person and wounding several others...the Pakistani military said one of its soldiers was also killed in the “unprovoked attacks by a violent mob” and 16 other soldiers were injured. Dozens of Baloch were arrested by security forces during the clashes as mobile and internet services were suspended in Gwadar for a fifth consecutive day on Wednesday...Angry protesters gathered in other towns in the province as well...

Balochistan’s Chief Minister Sarfraz Bugti said that while the citizens have a right to assemble, they should not have the “intentions to disrupt peace and order”.

But rights group Amnesty International on Tuesday accused the authorities of trying to “vilify and criminalise peaceful protesters”. “Every time Baloch protests take place, their demands are met with violence by security forces and mass arrests,” it said in a statement shared with Al Jazeera, demanding that “repeated punitive crackdowns” on Baloch protests must end.

The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) also criticised the “unnecessary” use of force against Baloch protesters and the suspension of internet and mobile services...