July 18, 2025
Rana Malhi
ISLAMABAD:
Women from the families of missing persons were drenched in the heavy downpour on Thursday, as the Islamabad administration confiscated their tents to stop them from erecting a protest camp in front of the National Press Club.
The sit-in, which began on Wednesday, July 16, is being led by Nadia Baloch, sister of Baloch Yekjehti Committee (BYC) coordinator Dr Mahrang Baloch. Dozens of families, whose loved ones have disappeared, are participating in the protest, demanding justice and accountability from the State.
The protestors are demanding the release of the incarcerated BYC leaders including Dr Mahrang Baloch, Beebow Baloch, Bebarg Baloch, Shah Ji Baloch , Gulzadi Baloch and Mama Ghaffar who were arrested again in an anti-terrorism case after spending three months in detention under Section 3 of the Maintainance of Public Order (3MPO).
BYC leader Imran Baloch is also still incarcerated under the 3MPO. The BYC leaders are currently in police lock-ups in two police stations in Quetta.
Deluge soaks protesters
Despite the heavy monsoon rains in the federal capital, the Islamabad police have reportedly not allowed the protestors to set up a proper camp. When the families attempted to erect tents to shelter themselves from the rain on Wednesday, the police refused permission and allegedly confiscated the poles meant for the tents.
The police action coincided with the arrival of a delegation of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) that visited the protest camp by families of Baloch missing persons to express solidarity with the demonstrators.
An elderly woman, holding a portrait of her missing son Muhammad Ali Lango, told Voicepk that they were left without shelter in the heavy rain after police personnel confiscated their tents.
“We are not being allowed to protest and our voices are being stifled,” she said, adding that families of missing persons were being treated even worse than animals in the country. The distraught woman said she could not understand why the capital city administration was behaving so callously with the women protesters, especially as they were drenched in the rains for the last two days.
Addressing the gathering, HRCP Vice Chairperson Munizae Jahangir said the state was violating its own laws by forcibly disappearing citizens.
“By disappearing people without due process, the state undermines the very laws it claims to uphold,” she said. “The state has become so callous that it has not even allowed the relatives of missing persons to set up a tent for shelter from the rain.”
Jahangir added that, according to the Balochistan police, 349 individuals are currently missing from the province, and the state has failed to win the trust of its own people.
She said the young girls at the protest camp have left their schools to demand recovery of their missing fathers and brothers, adding that people everywhere have expressed support for the families of missing persons and the recovery of their loved ones.
“The authorities cannot usurp the right of people to protest and express their grievances,” she added.
Senior politician and HRCP Council member Farhatullah Babar stated that if the missing persons have committed any crime, they should be brought before the courts and given a fair trial.
“If the missing persons are accused of wrongdoing, they must be produced in court and given a chance to defend themselves,” Babar said.
He said the purpose of their visit was to express solidarity with the victims of enforced disappearances and their grieving families. “The HRCP assures the families of missing persons that it stood in solidarity and would raise its voice for the release of missing persons,” he added.
Renowned human rights activist Nasreen Azhar also condemned the conduct of the Islamabad administration and said that the practice of enforced disappearances must come to an end. “The state’s job is to deliver justice, not deny shelter and voice to grieving families,” Azhar said.
Enforced disappearances are a crime, and a government is not supposed to commit such a crime but arrest those committing it, she added. “The phenomenon of missing persons is occuring for decades and this cause of shame must come to an end,” Azhar said.
Veteran journalist and former Secretary General of the Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists (PFUJ), Nasir Zaidi, warned that if the people of Balochistan are denied their constitutional rights, they may be compelled to explore alternative paths.
“When rights are persistently denied, hopelessness breeds resistance,” Zaidi cautioned.
The families of the missing persons said they had travelled hundreds, even thousands of miles to Islamabad in the hope that the state would listen to their cries — not shun them.
“We have come all this way hoping that the state will finally hear our pleas and return our loved ones who have been missing for years,” one protestor said.
The protest continues outside the National Press Club, drawing growing attention from human rights groups and civil society activists nationwide.