GWADAR: Leaders of Gwadar Ko Huqooq Do Tehreek (Give Rights to Gwadar Movement) on Thursday agreed to postpone for three days their planned protest sit-in and blockade of the coastal highway and Eastbay expressway after talks with a team of provincial ministers on Thursday.

Thousands of people from Gwadar, Turbat, Pishkan, Zamran, Buleda, Ormara and Pasni are taking part in the sit-in for over a week for the acceptance of their demands.

It was the second round of talks between the government team, headed by Mir Zahoor Ahmed Buledi, Minister for Planning and Development; Syed Ehsan Shah, Minister for Health; Lala Rasheed, Adviser to the Chief Minister; Syed Irfan Shah Gharsheen, Commissioner of Makran Division; Retired Major Abdul Kabir Zarkoon, Deputy Commissioner of Gwadar; and Maulana Hidayat-ur-Rehman and members of the Tehreek.

The leaders of the Gwadar Ko Haqooq Do Tehreek, after negotiations, gave three days’ time to the government team for acceptance of their demands.

Official sources said the provincial government had accepted four demands of the protesters and authorities concerned had issued an official notification in this regard.

One of the key demands accepted by the provincial government was taking over powers of running the Pak-Iran border affairs from the Frontier Corps authorities and handing it over to the district administration.

The official notification issued by authorities concerned was handed over to leaders of the sit-in.

It was decided that the Maritime Security Agency, the district administration and the fisheries department will conduct joint patrolling in Balochistan waters against illegal fishing of trawlers and drive foreign mafia trawlers out of waters of Gwadar district to protect rights of fishermen of Gwadar and other areas of Balochistan.

Speaking to protesters, Maulana Hidayat-ur-Rehman said that the government officials had handed over some documents about acceptance of some demands of the protesters “but we have no trust in them and have given a three-day deadline for acceptance of all demands of the people of the movement staging the sit-in”.

Published in Dawn, November 26th, 2021