Police in Gwadar have arrested Yousuf Mastikhan, a 77-year-old Awami Workers Party (AWP) worker who is a cancer patient, on charges of sedition for delivering a speech “against state institutions” at the ongoing protest in the city located in Pakistan’s Balochistan province, Friday Times reported.
An FIR was registered against Mastikhan in which the complainant alleged that he heard the AWP worker deliver an inciting speech against the state, armed forces, and intelligence agencies.
The complaint quoted Mastikhan as saying that Balochistan was forcibly made part of Pakistan in 1947 and that the state considered the people of province to be “slaves”, the report said.
According to the FIR, Mastikhan alleged that Pakistan has been stealing gas from the province since 1953, it added.
Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) also condemned the arrest of AWP worker saying: that he “has done nothing more than demand that the state give Gwadar’s residents the civil, political and economic rights to which they are entitled”.
Rights activists also expressed concern over the arrest of the politician.
One social media user said: “Really concerned about his health as he is aged and an advance staged cancer patient”.
Another user wrote that there was anger in all of Balochistan over the arrest of the leader, adding that protests will be held against civil society and progressive political movements, the report added.
Protests have been ongoing in Gwadar for over a month, with protesters asking for basic rights including access to potable water; elimination of unnecessary check posts on the coastal highway from Jiwani to Karachi; immediate lifting of restrictions on border trade; and transportation of food items from Iran among others things.
