Baloch Yakjehti Committee, which has been leading protests against the extrajudicial killings and enforced disappearances in Islamabad for the past nine days, have condemned the Islamabad police for sabotaging and intimidating their educational event on December 28.
The committee has given a seven-day ultimatum to the interim federal government to meet all their demands for justice in the cases of enforced disappearance in Balochistan. Their demands include establishing a fact-finding mission headed by a UN Working Group for a detailed investigation on rights violation in Balochistan, to repeal all the fake cases against protesters, and dissolving the Counter Terrorism Department, who the protesters say are “state-sponsored death squads”.
“If the state does not hold sincere negotiations our protesters will continue after seven days,” activist Mahrang Baloch said during a press conference in Islamabad. “The movement will express its disappointment with all state institutions against state policies of genocide and treating Balochistan like a colony, and put its case before the Baloch people.”
Hundreds of Baloch women marched 1,600 kms against extrajudicial killings from southern Kech district to the capital Islamabad. Late on December 20, the Islamabad police cracked down on a protest outside the National Press Club, attacking protesters with water cannons and batons and detaining hundreds.
They have arrested all the protesters and shattered the camp . And started violence on women and all persons present at the camp. They are totally violent , now they are not allowing us to enter in the premises of press club.#MarchAgainstBalochGenocide #ShameOnIsbPolice pic.twitter.com/EBjAnr3e0C
— Baloch Yakjehti Committee (Islamabad) (@BYCislamabad) December 20, 2023
#MarchAgainstBalochGenocide is under attack by the Islamabad police. Many of our youth have been arrested, & many have been injured by tear gas shelling and violence. Right now, we are being treated worse than animals. Will the world raise its voice for us against this barbarism? pic.twitter.com/zxDeGxT8zD
— Mahrang Baloch (@MahrangBaloch_) December 20, 2023
Led by Baloch Yakjehti (Coordination) Committee, the mass protests started in Balochistan’s Turbat on December 6. This was in response to the “staged encounter” by the Counter Terrorsim Department (CTD) that killed four persons including the 24-year-old Balaach Mola Bakhsh in Balochistan’s southern province on November 23.
Police arrest activists of the Baloch March. Dialogue between state and society has been closed by the state. This will inevitably lead to further radicalisation of the Baloch. https://t.co/p5o49g3ZvP
— Dr. Taimur Rahman (@Taimur_Laal) December 21, 2023
Since then, thousands of women have participated in demonstrations in the Kech district demanding justice for Balaach. The long march they carried out to Islamabad sought to highlight the level of hardships the families of disappeared persons take in their quest for justice.
On the eve of the International Human Rights Day, December 10, thousands of protesters along with dozens of families of persons of enforced disappearances in Balochistan marched towards Quetta.
“We’re determined to continue the registration of missing persons in every city we pass through on our march to Quetta,” said prominent activist Sammi Deen Baloch, addressing the protesters. He added that this collective effort will help build a comprehensive record, shedding light on the extent of the problem and reinforcing our demand for justice.
During their march the protesters held placards, chanting slogans against the security establishment, calling for CTD officials involved in Balaach’s killing to be held responsible. “Until they are arrested we will continue our protest,” the protesters said.
As the families continue their struggle for justice, the left-wing Awami Workers Party (AWP) and Left Democratic Front have extended their solidarity with the protesters saying that those officials involved in killing Baloch youth under the guise of “encounters” should be punished and the voices of the Baloch March should not be silenced.
Awami Workers Party termed the growing alienation in the resource-rich Balochistan, in southeastern Pakistan, is due to the “long pending grievances about Gwadar port, Saindak, Reko Diq,” which should be resolved as per the “democratic wishes of Balochi people.” These tragic deaths at the hands of the CTD, only emphasize the level of oppression inflicted on people of Balochistan, the AWP said.
Please join the camp outside Islamabad Press Club where families of Baloch missing persons demand justice.
How longer will this continue? Please amplify their voices. pic.twitter.com/muAOuFCFzq
— Somaiyah Hafeez (@sommulbaloch) November 27, 2023
Historic injustice
The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) stressed that extrajudicial executions in the country are not justified in any circumstances, given that the state has a legal obligation to protect the right to life. “The impunity accorded to perpetrators must cease and those responsible held to account,” the commission said on November 24.
At least 500 Baloch persons were forcibly disappeared in 2022 alone, as per the estimates of Voice of Baloch Missing Persons. The Commission of Inquiry on Enforced Disappearances suggests that there are about 9,000 cases between 2011 to January 2023 across Pakistan.
This April, a detailed report by HRCP found that besides involvement in political manipulations in Balochistan, the military was behind structural harassment on political activism, economic exclusion, enforced disappearances, and intense securitization.
“This is yet another historical mistake by the state of Pakistan. The move to arrest activists of Baloch March has ended any process of dialogue with them, it will further radicalize their youth,” Taimur Rehman of Left Democratic Front, said.
