(RFE/RL) -- Thousands of Pakistanis have been protesting for nearly a week in the port city of Gwadar against a growing Chinese presence in Balochistan and what members of the Baluch community say is a pattern of "forced disappearances" that they blame on Pakistani authorities.
Pakistan's army said on July 29 that the protests recently turned violent, leaving one soldier dead and at least 16 injured.
According to Baloch United Committee head Mahrang Baloch, the protest, which began on July 24, revolves around the exploitation of resources and the oppression of the Baluch ethnic minority.
"Gwadar is a very sensitive city," Balochistan Interior Minister Mir Ziaullah Langotold RFE/RL, pointing out that there are a number of Chinese nationals living in there.
Gwadar is a port city in western Pakistan on the Iranian border. It is a key nexus for China's Belt and Road Initiative, an economic-development program criticized by the West for exploitive tendencies throughout the Global South. Beijing has invested about $65 billion in Belt and Road Initiative projects in Pakistan.
Gwadar has been the scene of protests and security concerns in the past. In 2021, Islamabad and Beijing announced plans to install barbed wire around Gwadar, but the move was postponed after mass protests.
Baloch said the gas, coal, and resources of Balochistan belong to the people living in the region, rather than international powers.
"Balochistan and Gwadar are ours," Baloch said. "We cannot live under oppression. We will not allow anyone to exploit us."
Lango said 25 protesters had been arrested for "interfering with the work of the government," but Nadia Baloch, a leader of the Baloch United Committee and Mahrang Baloch's sister, told RFE/RL more than 300 protesters had been arrested following raids throughout Balochistan.
Videos showing protestersbeing draggedinto police cars have circulated online, and the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan condemned the arrest of the protesters and called for the release of all those arrested.
Lango told RFE/RL's Radio Mashaal that the published videos and images were edited.
The Pakistani Army said the casualties among the soldiers who guarded the protest resulted from "unprovoked assaults by the violent protesters."
Baluch leaders claim that several protesters were injured by the army but gave no details about the number injured or their condition.
Nadia Baloch also cited “forced disappearances” as a motivation for the protests. The Pakistani Army claims that the number of missing people is fewer than 1,000.
Army spokesman Major General Ahmed Sharif said at a May 7 press conference that Baluch people had joined armed groups and were not actually missing.
A Pakistani government commission that investigates forced disappearancessaidit had registered 197 cases in the first six months of 2024.