Seventy-year-old Abdul Rahim is a resident of Negwar Sharif, a suburb of Gwadar city. But their agricultural lands and the graves of their ancestors are located on the other side of the hill in villages called “Kanda Sol” behind Gwadar Ankara Dam. They have been circling for three weeks continuously to go to their lands, but they are not getting permission from the check post at Ankara Dam.
The elderly Abdul Rahim gathered his sons and grandsons and hired a pick-up vehicle that Sunday in the hope that this time they might be allowed to go to their lands. He also wanted to recite Fatiha on his mother’s grave and bring wood for burning, but this time too he was disappointed. He is sad and angry. Abdul Rahim says that he feels like a stranger on his own land. He says, “We go to cut wood on our lands, and after many months, we go to recite Fatiha on the graves of our elders, but we are not allowed to go there for no reason.” He complained that today was the third Sunday. They come here by renting a car. But they were returned.
There will be dozens of such stories throughout Balochistan that people who go to the sea every day, do business or travel, are asked this question: Where are you coming from and where are you going? Fed up with these attitudes and intense anger, a public movement called “Haq Du Tehreek” was founded in Gwadar. This movement staged a sit-in at Shaheed Lala Hameed Chowk in Gwadar for 32 days last year. The largest rally in the history of Balochistan was held on the occasion of International Human Rights Day, along with a large number of women’s and children’s rallies.
In Gwadar, a protest has been going on once again at Shaheed Lala Hameed Chowk in front of Gwadar Port on behalf of the “Haq Du tehreek” public movement. Last year, there were talks between “Haqq du Tehreek” and the Balochistan government, after which the 32-day sit-in ended. But after a year, the sit-in is being held again at the same place. Maulana Hidayat-ur-Rehman Baloch, the leader of the movement, is of the opinion that the Balochistan government has broken its promise after accepting the demands of last year’s sit-in. Among their demands, stopping illegal trawlers in the sea, freedom of trade on the Pakistan-Iran border and stopping humiliation of people at check posts were the top demands. But according to them, these demands have not been implemented, which is why they are staging an indefinite sit-in again since October 27.
People from all over the Makran are coming to participate in the sit-in. According to Maulana Hidayatur Rahman Baloch, it is their constitutional and democratic right to protest for their demands. They believe that these sit-ins and protests have brought a lot of change, but not as much as they should have. Maulana Hidayatur Rehman says that there are no basic facilities in the centre of CPEC. According to them, if their demands are not met, they will also close Gwadar Port.
At present, the demands of the sit-in include the recovery of missing persons; stopping the trawler mafia; transparency of border trade; eradication of narcotics; and removal of unnecessary check posts. It should be noted that these demands were included in the negotiations between the Haq Du Tehreek and the Balochistan government after the 32-day sit-in last year, but according to the protesters, the Balochistan government did not take them seriously. While addressing the crowd, Maulana Hidayat-ur-Rehman Baloch, while addressing the crowd, said that he is repeatedly being made to feel that Balochistan is a laboratory and war experiments are conducted here. He said that they are being asked to identify themselves several times a day on their land. “Where are you coming from and where are you going?”
According to some people, this sit-in is weaker than last year’s. Asif Baloch attributes this to Maulana Hidayat-ur-Rehman Baloch’s affiliation with Jamaat-e-Islami. According to him, Jamaat-e-Islami tried to cash in on the success of the Haq Du movement in the local body elections in Gwadar, with which the people of Gwadar are probably unhappy because there is currently no room for Jamaat-e-Islami in Baloch society. Jamat e Islami is weakening this movement. He says, “I think people are not as enthusiastic this year as compared to last year, because people still fear that this movement might be hijacked by Jamaat-e-Islami, even though people in other parties and especially in Gwadar They are disgusted with those who have been representing for the past several decades but still they do not accept Jamaat-e-Islami,” however, according to Hussain Wadila, a nationalist leader involved in this movement, no one can hijack this movement because it is a public movement and the people have It has already been hijacked.
Suleman Hashim, a senior journalist and president of the Gwadar Press Club, writes in one of his posts that the sea has become more polluted in 11 months and the fisheries department is failing to rein in the trawler mafia. In such a situation, when the problems of the people are not solved, there will be a public flood. This is the flood that emerged as the voice of Maulana.
