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The caretaker government on Sunday said negotiations were underway with Baloch protesters, who are staging a sit-in outside the National Press Club in Islamabad against enforced disappearances and extra-judicial killings.
“A cabinet committee formed by the prime minister is holding talks with the protesters,” Interior Secretary Aftab Akbar Durrani said, emphasising that staging peaceful protests was every Pakistani’s right.
The statement comes a day after the Baloch Yakjehti Committee — organiser of the Baloch long march in the federal capital — gave the authorities a three-day ultimatum to quash cases registered against students and activists and release all protesters.
The long march led by Baloch women — which started in Turbat on December 6 after the alleged “extrajudicial killing” of a Baloch youth by the Counter-Terrorism Department (CTD) officials — had reached the federal capital on Wednesday.
The Islamabad police had subsequently used brutal force to disperse and detain the demonstrators with over 200 taken into custody from different areas of the federal capital. The action was strongly condemned by human rights organisations, politicians, Islamabad High Court (IHC), President Dr Arif Alvi and caretaker Prime Minister Anwaarul Haq Kakar and analysts.
On Thursday evening, the government said 90 per cent of the Baloch men and women taken into custody were released. However, reports suggested the contrary.
A day earlier, a judicial magistrate granted bail to 162 participants. A protester, however, had told Dawn that only half of the protesters had been granted bail. The BYC claimed that though the bail was granted, their release was cancelled.
In a statement today, Durrani said: “We have ensured, on the orders of the prime minister, that no protesters are harmed, tortured or harassed in any way.”
At the same time, the interior secretary also stated that no one would be allowed to take the law into their own hands. “The implementation of court order will be ensured,” he added, referring to the IHC’s directives, in which it had advised the capital police chief to concentrate on controlling street crimes rather than flexing their muscles against protesters.
Charter of demands
A statement issued by the BYC on X (formerly Twitter) yesterday said over 100 Baloch students were “missing” after the crackdown on the march by the police on Wednesday night.
“Nearly 350 of our students and families were arrested…the females and 33 students were granted bail the next day, while more than 250 of our students are still in jail…more than 100 still have not been presented before court,” it claimed.
The protesters warned the authorities of “harsh steps” if their demands were not met and said the state and the capital administration would be responsible in that case.
They said their movement would continue till the release of missing students and acceptance of the demands of their long march. They also issued a charter of demands, seeking a fact-finding mission headed by a UN Working Group for a detailed investigation into rights violations in Balochistan.
“CTD Balochistan shall accept that it has killed Balach Mola Baksh in a fake encounter,” the second demand read. It called for the recovery of all missing Baloch persons, especially of those whose families were present in the sit-in outside the National Press Club.
The charter also asked the state to abolish the CTD and “death squads” in the province. It demanded a press conference from the interior ministry to “confess” the alleged killing of forcibly disappeared in “fake encounters”.
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