Balochistan Nationalist Parties Announce Wheel Jam Strike Today

Leaders of a coalition of nationalist parties that are Hazara, Baloch, and Pashtoon have called for a wheel jam strike today (Sunday) and accused the process of being tainted by corruption. In addition, they denied the outcomes of the general elections held on February 8 and claimed to have received Rs. 70 billion from Balochistan in exchange for winning votes. According to Dawn, they were speaking on Saturday at a joint public meeting held in front of the Quetta district returning officer’s office. The heads announced their support for parties that would end military and civil dissidence in politics and called for a province-wide wheel jam strike.

The heads of these four parties, Pashtoonkhwa Milli Awami Party (PkMAP), Balochistan National Party-Mengal (BNP-M), National Party (NP) and Hazara Democratic Party (HDP), alleged that the candidates declared winners in the elections did not secure their positions through legitimate votes but were instead aided by “supernatural entities”.
They further said that the Baloch people had been denied their real mandate, which was a crime, and those involved must be tried under Article 6 of the Constitution.

Furthermore, Dawn reported that the sit-ins that are currently taking place in Quetta, Dera Murad Jamali, and other urban centers are in their eighth day and have attracted hundreds of supporters, many of whom are women. Travelers are experiencing inconvenience as the Quetta-Chaman and Quetta-Taftan highways remain blocked at various points, despite the fact that highways heading to Sindh, Punjab, and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa have reopened after being closed for more than a week. In addition, PPP employees and supporters who are not affiliated with the alliance are demonstrating against the purported tampering of PPP candidate Baba Ghulam Rasool’s election results along the Dera Allahyar highway.