The newly introduced ordinance requires individuals to obtain permission from the administration in order to hold any public protest. This regulation has sparked widespread opposition, as it is seen as a restriction on citizens' rights to freely express their grievances.
Agha Hassan Baloch, leader of the Balochistan National Party Mengal (BNP-M), has declared a series of protests throughout Balochistan, beginning with a province-wide shutter-down strike on October 30.
The Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) Naib, Emir Liaqat Baloch announced that the religio-political party would hold a shutter-down strike across the country on August 28 to mount pressure on the government to provide relief to the masses, Geo News reported.
Amir Hafiz Naeemur Rehman, a senior leader of the radical political party, Jamaat-e-Islami Pakistan, has called a nationwide shutter down strike amid the ongoing protests in Rawalpindi, The Express Tribune reported.
Protests against inflation turned violent on Friday as police cracked down on demonstrators in the capital, Muzaffarabad. The city was brought to a standstill as a wheel-jam and shutter-down strike paralyzed normal activities.
It announced the decision after the police reportedly detained as many as 70 activists in a bid to prevent a 'long march' announced by the Jammu Kashmir Joint Awami Action Committee to call on the government to comply with an agreement reached between the two in February.
All shops, markets, shopping plazas, and business establishments in key areas like Mission, Zarghoon Road, Masjid Road, Fatima Jinnah Road, Price Road, Liaquat Bazaar, Toghi Road, and other main business districts in Quetta remained closed.
The face of the ongoing Baloch protests in Pakistan Mahrang Baloch has said the shutter-down strike in the province is a message to the state to take seriously the demands of the ongoing movement against the Baloch genocide.
The Baloch Yakjehti Committee (BYC), which has been organising these protests, voiced its dissatisfaction over the government's response in a statement shared on social media, according to The Balochistan Post report.
Baloch people carried out rallies and demonstrations against "state terrorism" and acts of forced disappearances, extra-judicial killings and fake encounters by the Pakistan government at multiple locations across the country.
During the strike, all the businesses remained closed and traffic crawled near Mangla Dam, one of the largest multipurpose water bodies used for irrigation and hydroelectric power in the country.
Shops in Muzaffarabad, Mirpur, Rawalakot, Kotli and other major cities remained shut and trades and locals carried out protest marches with slogans against the Pakistan government.