GWADAR: A large number of men and women protested against the alleged turning of houses into security checkpoints and gathered on the road linking Mand town of Kech with Iran border on Thursday. The protesters stopped all kinds of traffic while cross-border trade was also suspended. The protesters placed barricades on the road and set up a camp. While addressing a joint press conference along with Baloch Yakjehti Committee leader Wasim Baloch; a civil society leader, Gulzar Dost, strongly criticised the authorities for setting up a security post at the house of a woman, Munira. He said there was no justification for “occupying the residence” and converting it into a checkpoint. Mr Dost announced a complete strike in the entire Kech district against the move and demanded the immediate removal of the checkpoint. He said people were demanding removal of the checkpoint for the past one week. He warned the authorities concerned that if their demand was not met, the protest would be extended to other parts of Makran.