The Baloch National Movement (BNM) has condemned the arrest and use of force against the doctors in Quetta, Balochistan, who were protesting against the lack of personal protective equipment (PPE) kits for health workers on the front lines of the country's battle against the coronavirus.
"As we have already expressed our reservations that on the perspective of the colonial behavior of Pakistan and enmity against Baloch nation we have mentioned from day one that Pakistan would use the coronavirus pandemic against Baloch nation", Central Information Secretary, BNM,
The Young Doctors Association (YDA) in Quetta, who organised the protest, said at least 67 members had been arrested on Monday.
Dil Murad told ANI, "The arrest of doctors, who were asking for their due demands, verifies our reservations. When we campaigned against this strategy of Pakistan that it would use the coronavirus as a biological weapon against the Baloch nation, then we received harsh criticism that is a natural calamity and such criticism is not justified. The reality is that this is not political propaganda rather it is a matter of our national identity".
"Pakistan is letting no stone unturned, to harm the Baloch nation and add to their miseries", he said in a statement.
It added, "The experiences of earthquakes and floods are already known to us where the state used these natural calamities to further its exploitation. Those countries took the coronavirus epidemic lightly or delayed in providing facilities or lapsed on a governmental level which caused problems for the citizens, and then the heads of those states asked forgiveness from their people. But, Pakistan is not only willfully spreading the coronavirus in Balochistan but also treating the medical staff with brutality and has crossed all limits of barbarities".
Pakistan's novel coronavirus cases rose to 4,072 on Wednesday. The pandemic has killed 60 people in the country.
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In Balochistan province, 206 COVID-19 positive cases are registered.
The BNM Central Information Secretary said, "Balochistan depicts the milieu of the medieval age, but in the time of coronavirus outbreak establishing of tent villages as quarantine center, lack of medical equipment, test kits and Personal Protective Equipment (PPEs) expose the false claims of the parliamentarian parties who surrender their will before Pakistan".
He added the doctors of Balochistan are not demanding for any luxury or allowance, they have due demands, asking for facilities and PPE. For this, they are being beaten and arrested. "Pakistan is the only country in the world that is arresting and persecuting doctors for demanding protective kits", said Dil Murad.