Karachi: Widespread protests flared in Pakistan’s Karachi as the Baloch Yakjehti Committee (BYC) took to the streets against “state brutality and enforced disappearances” and demanded the release of the arrested Baloch leaders, including its chief Mahrang Baloch.
Pakistan has charged Mahrang Baloch and several other activists with terrorism after she led the sit-in protest against the illegal arrest and illegal police remand of the relatives of the victims of enforced disappearances.
Meanwhile, in a police crackdown, several individuals, including BYC leader Sammi Deen Baloch, were taken into custody Monday for allegedly violating section 144.
“Police scuttled the gathering, and around six protestors, including Sammi Deen Baloch, have been arrested on violation of Section 144 of Criminal Procedure Code and locked up in Women Police Station,” said Pakistan’s Deputy Inspector General of Police (DIG) Syed Asad Raza.
Speaking to the country’s leading newspaper, Dawn, the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan’s senior official Qazi Khizar, one of the participants of the protest, stated that the BYC and civil society organisations had given a call for a “peaceful” protest against the detention of Mahrang and others, and the crackdown on activists in Balochistan.
“The police adopted a brutal way to deal with the protesters,” the HRCP leader stated, adding that 13 women were taken away, but the number of men was not known.
He said that in contrast to their peaceful protest, several people claimed to represent the Pakistan Ulema Council and other groups were seen demonstrating against the Baloch activists under police protection. They carried banners and chanted slogans against the BYC, but the police were not preventing them from violating Section 144.
International human rights group Front Line Defenders expressed “deep concern” over Mahrang’s detention.
“We are deeply concerned by reports that Baloch human rights defender Sammi Deen Baloch has been arrested by Karachi police and taken to an unknown location. We call for her immediate release and an end to reprisals against Baloch human rights defenders,” the rights group posted in X Monday.
On the other hand, BYC Chief Organiser Mahrang Baloch was not produced before a court, despite the lapse of more than 24 hours since her detention.
The protests against her arrest continued in Quetta and other parts of Balochistan, with police using tear gas to disperse protesters in some cases, local media reported.
IANS
