by Malik Asad | Kalbe Ali in Dawn, December 29th, 2023
ISLAMABAD: Hours after a local court ordered release of 34 Baloch protesters from the police custody, Baloch Yekjehti Committee (BYC) leader Dr Mahrang Baloch gave a seven-day deadline to the government to commence a meaningful dialogue and resolve the issue of missing persons.
Speaking at a news conference after attending a seminar titled ‘Resilience and resistance; unveiling the long march against Baloch genocide” at the protest camp outside National Press Club here on Thursday, Dr Mahrang Baloch warned the BYC would put its case before the Baloch elders’ jirga for future course of action, if the government did not respond to their demands.
A sizeable number of lawyers, activists and social media activists attended the seminar that had been organised by the BYC to highlight the alleged high-handedness and brutal action of the Islamabad police against the Baloch protesters. The police also made an attempt to disrupt the seminar, but the BYC member and other activists managed to hold it successfully.
A delegation of the lawyers led by Hassan Raza Pasha, chairman executive committee of Pakistan Bar Council, came to the protest camp to express solidarity with the BYC in front of the National Press Club and offered to provide free legal aid to the protesters.
“The missing persons issue is a serious matter and it has to be resolved as soon as possible and the more serious matter was increasing cases of extra-judicial killings which is dangerous for stability of the state,” said Mr Pasha.
The BYC had announced to hold the seminar to highlight their woes and press for their demand for the recovery of the missing persons. The seminar was scheduled to commence at around 12 noon but it was delayed due to various reasons. Later, the venue, however, became a centre of attraction for the social media activists as police personnel from Kohsar police station stopped the sound system being taken to the camp.
ASI Farooq Niazi accused the BYC of staging a fake show and said they had brought the sound system which earlier they had claimed that it was stolen.
“You cannot use loudspeaker as you do not have the permission from the magistrate for it,” the police officer said.
After the police officer found no reason to confiscate the sound system, he left the spot directing his subordinates not to allow the sound system into the protest camp.
As a large number of civil rights activists, lawyers and social media content creators had reached the scene, Dr Mahrang clarified that they had rented new sound system as their own loudspeaker was stolen two days back by unknown persons.
She soon approached the police constables standing in a wall formation to stop the loudspeaker from reaching the camp, repeatedly requested them to give way. After repeating the word ‘please’ several times, she said, “We came from Turbat, faced all hardships along the way, spent nights here in this harsh weather only to raise our voice – for the recovery of our missing relatives, now the authorities are afraid of loudspeaker and can you silence our voice.”
She eventually announced that they would take the loudspeaker to the camp and the women participants recovered it and took it to the camp by force amid cheers from all sides.
The seminar was conducted by Saira belonging to Khuzdar who narrated her own ordeal by telling the participants that her two brothers and several relatives had been missing for years and the law enforcement personnel even threatened her elders of dire consequences, if she was not silenced.
“We are peaceful people, our demands are based on legal rights, but at the outskirts of Islamabad police treated us like animals, male policemen kicked us dragged us on the road,” Saira said.
She said previously they used to receive mutilated bodies, but now people were being killed in fake encounters and that too in front of general public.
Saira Baloch said the long march was initiated after the blatant killing of “Balach”, who was in the custody of Counter Terrorism Department (CTD) and was produced in the court too by the police.
Earlier in the day, Civil Judge Ahmed Shahzad Gondal resumed proceedings in the matter related to the arrest of Baloch protesters.
The police informed the judge that the identification parade of the detained protesters had been completed. Subsequently, the judge ordered their release.
Earlier on Wednesday, Justice Miangul Hassan Aurangzeb of the Islamabad High Court had ordered the police to complete the identification parade and sought a compliance report.
https://www.dawn.com/news/1801442/baloch-yekjehti-committee-sets-7-day-deadline-for-talks
