Nationalist parties choke highways in Pakistan’s southwest to protest alleged rigging of Feb. 8 election

Supporters of Balochistan National Party, Pashtunkhwa Milli Awami Party and Hazara Democratic Party protest against the alleged skewing in Pakistan's national election results, as they block the Quetta-Sibi highway in Balochistan on February 18, 2024. (AFP)

• Members and supporters of Baloch, Pashtun and Hazara parties have been protesting outside Quetta deputy commissioner’s office for 10 days
• A coalition of these parties gave a call for a wheel-jam strike in the province on Sunday, after which supporters blocked highways for several hours

QUETTA: Nationalist parties in Pakistan’s southwestern Balochistan on Sunday choked key highways leading from the provincial capital of Quetta to the rest of the country to protest what they called “brazen rigging” and “manipulation” of results of Feb. 8 national election.
Last week’s polls witnessed attacks by militants in the country’s southwest and northwest, a nationwide outage of mobile phone networks, followed by prolonged delays in the release of constituency results by election officials. Members and supporters of multiple nationalist parties have been camped outside the Quetta deputy commissioner office for the last 10 days, alleging that results of polls in their constituencies had been changed during the counting process.
A coalition of the Balochistan National Party-Mengal (BNP-M), Pashtoonkhwa Milli Awami Party (PkMAP), National Party (NP) and Hazara Democratic Party (HDP) gave a call for a wheel-jam strike across the province on Sunday, after which protesters blocked major highways for more than eight hours and suspended traffic in Quetta, Mastung, Kalat, Khuzdar, Kuchlak, Zhob, Loralai, Chaman, Turbat, Gwadar and Kharan areas.
“BNP-Mengal blocked a key highway at Dasht, National Party was protesting at the Quetta-Karachi highway and PkMAP’s supporters were sitting at the Quetta-Loralai highway against the brazen rigging in the election,” Ghulam Nabi Marri, a BNP-M member, told Arab News.
Footage seen by Arab News showed dozens of vehicles, including ambulances and passenger buses, stranded for hours on highways across the province, causing difficulties for passengers.
Saeed Ahmed, a passenger bus driver who traveled to Quetta from the eastern city of Lahore, said he reached the southwestern city after a 12-hour delay because of a blockade of the Quetta-Lahore highway by protesters in Khanozai area.
“More than a dozen passengers in my bus faced immense difficulties due to the road blockade,” Ahmed told Arab News.
Marri said his party’s supporters had blocked the Quetta-Sukkur highway in Dasht, but opened it upon the request of travelers.
Jan Achakzai, the provincial caretaker information minister, said the politicians defeated in the election had been “rejected” by the people of Balochistan.
“Most of the highways and train service in Balochistan remained open because overall, people don’t like the politics of punishing them for the defeat of candidates,” he said.