Rights of Balochistan: JI chief terms ‘long march’ legitimate protest

KARACHI: Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) Pakistan Chief Engr Hafiz Naeemur Rehman on Monday declared the long march for the rights of Balochistan a legitimate and constitutional protest, urging the government not to create obstacles against it. Speaking at a press conference at Idara Noor-e-Haq, the JI Karachi headquarters, he emphasized that the people must be allowed to exercise their democratic rights.

He was accompanied by JI Karachi Chief Monem Zafar Khan and other party leaders. He assured that the march would remain peaceful as long as the authorities refrained from imposing restrictions or creating disturbances.

Stressing that the people of Balochistan had long suffered due to unemployment and the unresolved issue of missing persons, he said the resulting deprivation had only deepened public frustration. This frustration, he noted, had allowed hostile forces to exploit some individuals in the region.

The JI chief warned the state against discouraging lawful, constitutional means of protest, stating that such flawed policies only helped strengthen hostile propaganda. Referring to the public response, he noted that the march had built a connection between the people of Pakistan, particularly in the wake of ethnically driven violence in Balochistan, and was warmly received across cities in Punjab.

He said it was only natural that unrest continued to brew in Balochistan, where the people were still deprived of basic utilities like gas supply, despite being home to the country’s earliest and richest gas reservoirs discovered in the 1950s and 1960s. He lamented the rising unemployment among the youth in Balochistan, a province rich in minerals and metals, saying that state neglect had turned potential into despair.

The JI central chief paid glowing tribute to Maulana Hidayatur Rehman and his companions for their unrelenting efforts, stating that the time had come for a thorough review of state policies regarding Balochistan. The matter of missing persons, he said, had no justification. The government must either produce them in courts or provide credible information if they were abroad or had joined militant ranks.

Shifting focus to Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Hafiz Naeem called the situation there “alarming” and traced its roots to a harmful policy initiated some 24 years ago at the behest of the United States. He condemned the recent tragedy in the Terrah Valley, where several innocent lives were lost, and called for a transparent investigation and exemplary punishment for the perpetrators.

He suggested that rather than resorting to excessive force, the government should engage with the people to de-escalate tensions, offering JI’s active support in this regard. He also announced that the party would host a grand Jirga in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa on July 30 to address the region’s concerns.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2025