Baloch protesters are demanding an end to enforced disappearances and extrajudicial killings in their province. They issued a three-day ultimatum to the state, calling for the immediate release of all demonstrators detained so far and the dropping of charges against them. The Baloch Yakjehti Committee (BYC) announced that over 100 previously detained members were missing, not taken to court, and continued to rally outside Islamabad’s National Press Club despite police presence.
The long march, started after a Baloch youth was allegedly killed by the Counter-Terrorism Department, prompted police to use force to disperse and detain over 200 protesters. The government claimed that 90% of the detained Baloch men and women were released, but the BYC said that claim was false and that over 100 students were still missing.
The BYC issued a charter of demands for a UN fact-finding mission, the acceptance of the “staged fake encounter” by the CTD, the immediate release of all forcibly disappeared Baloch people, and the shutdown of the CTD and death squads supported by state agencies. They demanded a press conference be held with the names of all victims of enforced disappearances and the interior ministry confess to killing enforcedly disappeared persons in fake encounters.
The BYC decided to continue the sit-in at the NPC until their demands were met. They were visited by Balochistan Governor Malik Abdul Wali Khan Kakar, Pashtun Tahaffuz Movement leader Ali Wazir, and former senator Farhatullah Babar, who all showed their support for the protesters.
The group’s Karachi chapter also organized solidarity protests and marches in various points throughout the city, demanding an end to human rights violations and the release of all arrested protesters.
The Islamabad police said 200 people were present outside the NPC, and the Supreme Court Bar Association urged the government to prioritize dialogue and resolution to address the protesters’ legitimate concerns. British-Pakistani writer Mohammed Hanif returned his Sitara-i-Imtiaz as a protest against the state and climate activist Greta Thunberg voiced solidarity with the protesters.