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Pakistan’s largest province Balochistan has huge reserves of natural gas and the world’s largest stockpile of copper and gold. Despite its rich mineral wealth, the area’s population ranks among the poorest nations and also ranks low in literacy and other socioeconomic measurements.
Several were injured when opposition politicians and their supporters clashed with police on Friday at the state building in Quetta, the capital of Pakistan’s Balochistan province.
Opposition politicians have been protesting against the state budget for several days, arguing that it does not provide funding for development projects in the constituencies they control.
Crucial highway routes and roads leading to major cities have been blocked by opposition supporters over the past four days, reports say.
On Friday, politicians from Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam, Balochistan National Party-Mengal and Pashtunkhwa Milli Awami opposition parties blocked the gates of parliament to prevent government officials from entering the building.
The situation became violent after the province’s chief, Jam Kamal Khan, who in national politics is a coalition ally of Prime Minister Imran Khan, reached the parliament building to present the budget.
After dispersing the protesters with the use of tear gas, local Quetta police escorted Kamal Khan and other lawmakers from the government into the assembly.
Jam Kamal Khan leads the Balochistan Awami Party (BAP), which is the largest in the Balochistan Assembly, with 23 representatives in the 65-member House.
A government spokesman, Liaquat Shahwani, tried to soften them in opposition, saying no constituency has been ignored in the budget.
However, opposition supporters, many of them hardline Islamists, continued to protest outside parliament.
According to Pakistani television company Geo TV, police in Quetta town have held talks with Malik Sikandar Khan, the opposition leader in the state parliament, to persuade protesters to leave parliament premises.
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