Balochistan landmine explosion: Pakistan Police baton charge protestors at Mangi Dam

On Sunday, Pakistan police baton-charged a crowd of protestors at the Mangi Dam in Balochistan. The protestors demanded the Prime Minister Imran Khan-led administration to withdraw the Frontier Corps and security forces from the district after at least three security personnel were killed in a suicide bombing. Angry Pakistan citizens observed the ‘wheel jam’ strike in Quetta and other parts of Balochistan as they blocked the main highways linking Quetta with Chaman, Zhob, Ziarat, Loralai, and other areas of Balochistan. 

As they protested against the government and demanded the removal of armed forces, traffic was brought to a standstill as transit to Punjab, and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa was suspended, ANI reported, citing The Express Tribune newspaper. Pakistani cops arrested the Pakhtunkhwa Milli Awami Party leader Yousuf Khan Kakar while they charged other demonstrators with batons causing an uproar.

Crowd demand 'arrest of culprits'

The strike was reportedly called by Nawab Ayaz Khan Jogezai, the Convener Pashtoon Jirga, to protest against the explosion in Balochistan’s Ziarat district two weeks ago. As the long queue of trucks and massive vehicle backlog were witnessed on highways, police diverted the traffic. The protesting crowd demanded the arrest of the culprits involved in the martyrdom of the Levies personnel.

Balochistan Home Minister Ziaullah Langove and other government ministers and advisers negotiated with protesters, but the crowd did not deter from its demands. "A shutter down strike was organized in all the districts of the province during which the national highways were also closed. The traffic from Balochistan to Punjab and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa also remained suspended," a source told Express Tribune, according to ANI.

As negotiations hit a dead end, the police detained several activists to quell the demonstrations. “Balochistan Levies is Pakistan’s force that is in charge of maintaining law and order in the tribal areas of the province, while the Frontier Corps is the paramilitary force of Pakistan stationed in the provinces of Balochistan. At least four labourers working at Mangi Dam were kidnapped by unidentified armed suspects two weeks ago. A Levies party was travelling to the area to get the workers released when it hit the landmine," reported Dawn.

Suicide bomb explosion in Balochistan

On Sunday, a suicide bomber detonated his explosives at a security checkpoint in restive southwestern Pakistan, killing at least three paramilitary troops and wounding several others. Associated Press quoted senior police officer Azhar Akram saying that the attacker intended to harm the troops as he reached the checkpoint manned by the paramilitary Frontier Corps on Quetta-Mastung Road, 25 kilometres (15 miles) south of Quetta, the capital of Balochistan province. Banned Baloch Liberation Army and Baluch Liberation Front have been engaged in a low-level insurgency and have carried out such terror attacks demanding freedom of the gas and mineral-rich province. 

Image Credit: ANI/AP