Balochistan National Party (BNP-Mengal) has announced that it will hold a wheel-jam strike across the province on Monday to protest against the worsening law and order situation in the Wadh area of Khuzdar district of Balochistan, Pakistan-based Dawn reported.
The BNP-Mengal secretary general Waja Jahanzeb Baloch said all national highways connecting Balochistan with other provinces will be blocked during the strike, according to the Dawn report. He said: “No vehicles would be allowed to ply on highways and roads in all cities and towns of Balochistan to register our protest for not taking steps to ease the situation in Wadh by the government.”
Waja Jahanzeb Baloch urged transporters, good companies, and people not to come on the roads on Monday.
In addition, protest rallies are set to take place across the province on July 8, Dawn reported.
BNP leaders Prince Musa Jan, Akhtar Hussain Langove, Musa Baloch, and Sanaullah Baloch were also present at the press conference.
Meanwhile, Pakistan Institute for Conflict and Security Studies (PICSS) in its report revealed that Balochistan reported 75 terror incidents in the first half of 2023, resulting in 100 deaths and 163 injuries, Pakistan-based Dawn reported.
The data revealed a 103 per cent increase in terror attacks compared to the same period in the previous year and a 14 per cent rise compared to the last six months of 2022, according to Dawn. Fatalities in Balochistan rose by 61 per cent and 64 per cent in the first six months of the current year compared to the first and second half of 2022, respectively.
According to the report, Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa emerged as the most affected province during the first half of this year with 174 reported terrorist attacks, claiming 266 lives and injuring 463 others, reported Dawn.
The PICSS data shows a 51 per cent increase in terror attacks in tribal districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa during the first half of 2023 in comparison to the same period in 2022, though there was a 10 per cent and 15 per cent decline in fatalities compared to the first and second half of last year, respectively. Punjab province has witnessed a significant rise in terror-related incidents during the first six months of 2023.
