Editorial: Regretfully, protests are now the only way to get the attention of Pakistan’s heartless ruling class.

People have the right to peacefully take to the streets to make sure their views are heard when the government ignores their complaints. Street demonstrations and sit-ins need to be reserved for extreme circumstances, but regrettably, in Pakistan, they are now the only ways to get the attention of a heartless ruling class.

To get the state’s attention, disgruntled citizens have once again resorted to the streets in the bitter cold of Parachinar and Gwadar. Locals are demanding an end to the de facto blockade of their region in the Kurram sit-in, which has been ongoing for a week. Essentials are severely lacking as a result of the blockade, and hospitals are in a dire situation as patients must be airlifted to neighboring cities and medications are running low.

Additionally, the bodies of two men who were brutally decapitated en route to Parachinar have been positioned at the protest site by the protesters. Karachi is also seeing sit-ins in support of Kurram’s people. For more than ten days, the All Parties Alliance has been holding a sit-in in Gwadar. The demonstrators claim that the Makran region has suffered economically as a result of the commercial border blockade with Iran, and they also face drinking water and electrical shortages.

People have previously demonstrated against burying their loved ones’ remains in inclement weather. Such sit-ins have occurred in Quetta on multiple occasions, such as in the wake of the 2013 terrorist attacks and in 2021, following the massacre of Hazara miners in Mach. While Makran has witnessed numerous large-scale sit-ins over the years demanding civic facilities, the Baloch have marched up to Islamabad demanding their fundamental rights.

Similar disturbances and large-scale demonstrations occurred in Gilgit-Baltistan and Azad Kashmir throughout the previous year. The majority of the demonstrators’ demands, such as the right to live in peace, the right to avoid being killed by terrorists, the right to have loved ones taken away by “unknown” individuals, the right to earn a wage, etc., are completely legitimate. People are forced to return to the streets in protest because successive governments have refused to acknowledge the validity of their demands.

The people’s complaints should be directed at their elected representatives in a functioning democracy. Regrettably, the ruling class in Pakistan either ignores lawmakers or is too preoccupied with wrangling over the few remaining seats.

Kurram’s nightmare blockade must end right away, the state must ensure the safety of its citizens, and Makran’s people’s legitimate aspirations must be fulfilled. In the long term, those in positions of authority must ask themselves why Pakistani communities are in turmoil.