Quetta:

Balochistan National Party-Mengal (GDP-M) has continued its long march for the seventh consecutive day in the Lak Pass area in Mastung, with the party’s chief Sardar Akhtar Jan Mengal, who led the demonstration.

The protest aims to demand the release of Mahrang Baloch, the President of the Committee for Missing Persons together with several other political workers who have allegedly been exposed to enforced disappearance.

Leaders from various political parties, including Pakistan Tehreek-In-Insaf (PTI) Central leader Salman Akram Raja and senior politician Sardar Latif Khosa, have joined Sit-in to express solidarity with BNP-M’s case. They condemned the alleged disappearance in Balochistan and called on the government to take immediate action to recover the missing persons.

Meanwhile, Internet services remain suspended in Quetta and several other parts of Balochistan. Official sources have cited security concerns as the cause of the disturbance.

However, GDP-M leaders and protesters believe that blackout is an attempt to suppress coverage of the ongoing demonstration.

Meanwhile, Jamhoori Wattan Party (JWP) has also expanded its support for Mengal’s long march. Party leader Nawabzada Gohram Bugti has announced a demonstration from his hometown of Dera Bugti to Quetta and Mastung, scheduled for Friday (today), which further reinforces the pressure on authorities to tackle the question of missing persons.

Last Friday, GDP-M announced a long march from WADH to Quetta to protest the arrests of the Baloch Yakjehti Committee (BYC) leaders and activists, including Dr. Mahrang Baloch and Sammi Deen Baloch, as well as police crashes on their sit-in in Quetta. Sammi was released on Tuesday.