Crackdown on Baloch Protests Draws Amnesty’s Ire
Amnesty Asia, a worldwide human rights organization, denounced the apprehension and imprisonment of individuals involved in the Baloch protest in Dera Ghazi Khan on Monday, expressing concern over the arrests made against those who sought to speak out against terrorism and brutality inflicted upon the Baloch people.
Taking to X, Amnesty International South Asia, Regional Office, said, “Amnesty strongly condemns the arrest and detention of at least 20 participants of the Baloch march on December 17 in Dera Ghazi Khan, Punjab. The protestors, many of them women and families of the forcibly disappeared, peacefully held a sit-in and, subsequently, started a long march from Balochistan to Islamabad demanding justice and accountability after the extrajudicial killing of Balach Mola Bakhsh and three others by the Pakistan Counterterrorism Department (CTD) in Turbat, Balochistan, on November 23, 2023.”
The group also informed that a 24-year-old Baloch man was taken by law enforcement on October 29 and was in CTD custody on remand when he was extrajudicially executed.
Moreover, the protestors have been released; however, three separate cases against the organizers and participants have been filed.
Amnesty International also demanded that the Pakistani authorities immediately and unconditionally drop all charges against the people who were charged solely for expressing their right to freedom of expression.
It said, “Conduct an impartial investigation of all extrajudicial killings and enforced disappearances, particularly in Balochistan, in line with international standards. – Compensate families of victims of extrajudicial killings and those who forcibly disappeared.”
Meanwhile, the Balochistan Yakjehti Council will continue its long march against alleged genocide by Pakistani forces on the people of Balochistan after it called off a sit-in at Dera Gazi Khan on Monday night. The Baloch Long March will now start to move towards Islamabad today, according to Dawn.
The marchers started their journey from Turbat under the banner of the Baloch Yakjehti Council (BYC) and staged a sit-in in Dera Ghazi Khan after several students and protesters were arrested for breaking a local ban on gatherings.
In an effort to persuade the authorities that the long march was not against local authority, the marchers staged a sit-in at Pakistan Crossing, delaying traffic.
As a result, police freed all of the detainees but did not cancel the FIRs filed against them, according to Dawn News Pakistan.
