By Nadeem Khan & Xari Jalil
QUETTA/LAHORE
A police crackdown on a Baloch Yekjehti Committee (BYC) sit-in in Quetta resulted in multiple arrests on Monday, June 29, as protesters demonstrated against the life sentences handed to Dr Mahrang Baloch and Sibghatullah Shahji.
The protesters, numbering around 50 — predominantly women — had gathered outside Burma Hotel to stage the demonstration. Approximately 10 to 15 police vehicles, including prison vans, surrounded the area. Senior officers including an SP and DSP were present at the scene.
As soon as the protesters began chanting slogans, police moved in and grabbed several male participants. Women protesters immediately resisted and tried to intervene, after which police launched a baton charge upon the crowd. After a violent clash both men and women protesters were arrested, and their phones confiscated by the police. Those arrested were taken to an unspecified location. BYC members proceeded to the Sariab Police Station in pursuit, but the Police Superintendent (SP) refused to meet them while those who had been arrested were also not present at the location.
It was noted that while the authorities had promised that those arrested would be released once the sit-in ended, the promise had not been fulfilled, by the time protesters were forced to leave.
Nadia Baloch, the sister of Dr Mahrang who had led the protest spoke to Voicepk about the situation.
“The crackdown was totally unprovoked,” she said. “We were only having a peaceful sit-in. But the police it seems had never intended to let us have this protest. We were only a few people but they had surrounded us with their vans. We don’t understand what they thought we would do.”
It was observed that ever since authorities have launched regular crackdowns on BYC gatherings, they have become much smaller with fewer people coming out to join the protests or sit-ins, while at one time these protests were seen as being quiet large.
Nadia complained that the police moved in the moment protesters began chanting.
“They led a baton charge, they hit us, and arrested our protesters. They took them to an undisclosed location and even though later we went and talked to the SP and DSP and they assured us that once we would call off the protest, they would free the detainees, we are yet to see them. We have no idea where they are.” Nadia also called for the court’s decision against Dr Mahrang to be reversed.
By late evening Qamrani Road saw a fresh protest in response to the police crackdown earlier.
Dr Mahrang Baloch’s lawyer, Jadain Dashti, said that authorities had arbitrarily replaced him with another lawyer without the consent of his client, and that the defence had serious reservations about this. He also raised objections to what he called a “faceless trial” conducted inside jail, and said an appeal would be filed in the high court within the next few days.
“We will shut down the whole of Balochistan if this keeps happening to us,” Nadia warned.