As many as 70 students have been arrested by the police in Quetta after they tried to reach the chief minister’s house on Wednesday, demanding access to the internet for attending online classes.
“No student arrest was ordered by the government,” said Chief Minister Jam Kamal Khan on Twitter. “It was [the result of] a quarrel among police and students in which police acted and arrested,” he said, adding that all the arrested students had been released from custody. In a subsequent post, the chief minister said that the superintendent of police had been removed from his post and “appropriate action” would be taken against a lady constable who had mishandled the situation.
The chief minister’s statement stands in contrast to an earlier statement issued by government spokesperson Liaquat Shahwani in which he had alleged the students were “temporarily detained for their own safety” because there was risk of COVID-19 spreading among the protesters. “They [students] have every right to protest and raise voices for their demands… [but] Section 144 has been imposed [in the province] to prevent people from gathering to safeguard them as part of coronavirus SOPs,” he added.
According to a police officer the students tried to organise a rally in the city when there is a complete ban on every kind of gathering as section 144 is imposed. The arrested students were shifted to different police stations.
Balochistan government had closed all educational institutions in the province in March after a spike in coronavirus cases. However, the educational institutions had announced that they would be conducting online classes during this period, compelling students to protest against the decision because of poor internet facilities in the province.
