Baloch protesters call for shutterdown demonstration across Pakistan tomorrow

Baloch protesters on Tuesday called for a shutterdown demonstration across the country tomorrow (January 3), saying that state officials were trying to label the Baloch long march and sit-in in Islamabad as “propaganda”.

“The state has consistently shown a half-hearted and uncommitted concern regarding our demands from the beginning,” the Baloch Yakjehti Committee, organiser of the protest demanding an end to enforced disappearances and extra-judicial killings in Balochistan, said in a social media post.

“Hence, on Jan 3, we are calling for a shutterdown demonstration across Pakistan. We urge people from all walks of life to advocate and respect our call for the shutterdown strike in the name of humanity and the Baloch nation, aiming to preserve our identity,” it added.

Baloch protesters, who have been camping outside the National Press Club for over a week now, had on December 28 given the government a seven-day ultimatum to fulfil their demands which include the release of all protesters detained during police action, detailed investigation into rights violations in Balochistan, elimination of enforced disappearances and extrajudicial killings, release of all victims of enforced disappearances, restrictions on the Counter-Terrorism Department (CTD) and elimination of “state-sponsored death squads”.

In a video message shared on social media today, Dr Mahrang Baloch, one of the protest organisers, said the protest march had begun after a Baloch youth was allegedly killed in custody by the CTD.

“Our movement is against the decade-long enforced disappearances and murders of innocent citizens in Balochistan,” she said, adding that all the residents of the province supported the protest.

Dr Mahrang recalled that the Islamabad police had used force to “sabotage” the long march and numerous “fake” first information reports had been registered against protesters across the country. “We have been repeatedly told by the administration they are not ready to work on their policy of Baloch genocide,” she claimed.

She said that over 20 Baloch youths have been forcibly disappeared “once again”. Dr Mahrang demanded that all the Baloch people languishing in illegal custody should be presented before courts and given a right to a fair trial.

Further, she urged the nation to support the Baloch people and their call for the shutter-down strike tomorrow.

The development comes after caretaker Prime Minister Anwaarul Haq Kakar took exception to the support lent to protesters and said those supporting the demonstration could go join the Baloch militants.

“Advocates of terrorists in Balochistan should go and join them if they are convinced on the veracity of their issue and fight the state along with them, so that we know where they stand and how to deal with them,” he had said during a press conference in Lahore.

Kakar had also insisted that those protesting in Islamabad were the “relatives of those fighting against the state” in Balochistan. “We still respect their right to protest because their dear and near ones disappeared. But they should also know that they [militants] were fighting against the state, with the help of RAW funding and aided by India. It is an armed rebellion, with foreign help,” he had said.

Responding to the PM in a post on X (formerly Twitter), Dr Mahrang said the stance of the protesters had been clear from the beginning.

“From the inception of our movement, our demands have been clear: an end to all forms of human rights violations in Balochistan and the cessation of the Baloch genocide. We’ve presented these demands to the state through the media,” she said.

She noted that the protesters sought to seek negotiations with the state regarding these demands. “Sadly, the world witnesses the continuous irresponsibility and stubbornness of the state, where peaceful protestors endure torture and arrests, and media trials are conducted against this peaceful movement,” she stated.

“Today, the Prime Minister of Pakistan declared victims of enforced disappearances as terrorists, insulting victim families and addressing peaceful political activists in a threatening tone. However, we assert to this state and government that we will persist in informing the world about your oppression and barbarism,” Dr Mahrang vowed.

SC takes up petition on missing persons
Separately, the Supreme Court is hearing a petition against enforced disappearances and missing persons. The proceedings are being broadcast live on the apex court website.

A three-member bench comprising Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Qazi Faez Isa, Justice Musarrat Hilali and Justice Muhammad Ali Mazhar is hearing a set of petitions. One of the pleas includes an application filed by former senator and senior lawyer Aitzaz Ahsan.

At the outset of the hearing, Advocate Shoaib Shaheen appeared on behalf of Ahsan. He urged the apex court to accept the instant petition and declare that enforced disappearances are “violative of, inter alia, Articles 4 (right of individuals to be dealt with in accordance with law, etc), 9 (security of person), 10 (safeguards as to arrest and detention), 14 (inviolability of dignity of man, etc), 19 (freedom of speech, etc) and 25 (equality of citizens) of the Constitution.

He further requested the top court to declare that the Commission of Inquiry on Enforced Disappearances “does not adequately comply with legal and international standards”.

Here, the CJP inquired about the commission of inquiry to which the lawyer read out loud a notification issued by the PPP — notifying the constitution of the same — in 2011. Shaheen argued the commission had failed to adequately function and fulfil its responsibilities. “So far, over 2,200 people are still missing and there is no information about them,” he told the bench.

Justice Isa remarked that the formation of a commission was a good thing and asked if the petitioner wanted the body to be dismissed. For his part, Shaheen said the commission worked for 13 years.