Leaders of the Haq Do Movement held a demonstration in the coastal city of Gwadar on Thursday where they hailed the suicide attacker Shari Baloch for choosing “freedom” over “slavery and submission.”
They said that the Baloch people are fighting a war to preserve their identity. The real owners of the land are being disrespected and humiliated by the Pakistani forces who are stationed at every corner of Gwadar and much of Balochistan.
They said that the billions of dollars of Chinese investments in the city have failed to provide basic facilities to the locals, like access to clean drinking water, quality education and healthcare, and electricity.
Haq Do Movement leaders, Maulana Hidayat Ur Rehman and Majid Haidar addressed the demonstration in Gwadar. They said that the Baloch are the true owners of Balochistan’s resources. They said that if we work together and stay united, no power can defeat us. Some of us might disappear at the hands of the Pakistani state during this struggle, but that will not hinder us, they said.
They said that the Haq Do Movement has played a vital role in uniting the people of Gwadar against the heinous practises of land grabbing and drug trafficking. They said that the people in power did not like this and they sponsored an alliance of four political parties to hinder us, but we will not stop.
The speakers paid tribute to Shari Baloch, BLA’s female suicide attacker who targeted and killed Chinese nationals in Karachi, and said that she chose “freedom” over “slavery and submission.” They also paid tribute to the “martyrs” who fought and died for the Baloch cause and said that we will never forget the “pain and tyranny” inflicted on us.
The leaders said that the Chinese government has spent billions of dollars on various infrastructure and development projects in Gwadar, but the locals have not benefited from this in any way. The scarcity of clean drinking water has forced the local women to carry large water pitchers for several kilometres on their heads. Furthermore, the city also suffers from a lack of electricity and access to quality education and healthcare. It is hard to find a tablet for headaches in the local hospitals, the speakers said.
The speakers said that the government-sponsored political alliance is bound to lose in the general elections as they do not have the trust of the people. They said that we are optimistic about the upcoming municipal elections, and if the elections are not conducted fair and square, we will hold rallies and protests throughout Balochistan.