QUETTA: Thousands of supporters of the Balochistan National Party (BNP) staged a mass public gathering on Saturday in Quetta in protest against the detention of the party’s central president and former Balochistan chief minister, Sardar Akhtar Mengal, and several other fellow party workers.
The protest rally led by acting central president of the BNP, Dr Jhanzaib Jamaldini, started at the city’s Science College. Protesters then marched along different routes in the city. They were carrying life-size photographs of Baloch leaders and chanting slogans against the military and the government.
They demanded the release of their party chief and workers detained, according to the party, as part of the previous government's policies of political victimisation.
Angry protesters also chanted slogans demanding Balochistan's independence. The rally ended in a large public gathering at the Hockey Ground, consisting of thousands of party workers. The rally was addressed by BNP leaders including Jamaldini, and its secretary general, Habib Jalib. The speakers urged the newly formed government in the Centre to release all Baloch political prisoners and help recover missing persons.
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