ISLAMABAD: An ethnic Baloch activist leader on Tuesday called for a “shutter-down demonstration” throughout Pakistan on Jan. 3 against alleged rights abuses and “genocide” of the Baloch nation in southwestern Pakistan. 

Hundreds of Baloch activists arrived in Islamabad last month after covering over 1,600 kilometers from Turbat district in southwestern Balochistan to protest what they say are “enforced disappearances” and “genocide” of innocent Baloch people. Balach Baloch, a 24-year-old resident of Balochistan, was said to be killed by a law enforcement agency in custody, putting a spotlight over the issues of enforced disappearances and extrajudicial killings in the country. 

Police arrested hundreds of Baloch protesters last month after clashes between both sides erupted in the capital. Following talks between the protesters and a three-member committee formed by Prime Minister Anwaar-ul-Haq Kakar, the government said it had released all Baloch activists that were detained. 

Pakistan’s prime minister on Monday hit out at journalists and rights activists criticizing the state for mistreating the protesters, accusing them of “misleading” the nation. He, however, said the state did not have any problems with the protesters and respected their right to peaceful assembly but would take stern action against Baloch militants killing innocents. 

Dr. Mahrang Baloch, who is leading the protesters, gave the government a seven-day deadline last Thursday to resolve the issue of “missing persons” and “extrajudicial killings.”

“From the Islamabad Press Club we request you all that Jan.3 is the last day for our ultimatum,” Baloch said in a video message. “We are issuing a call for a shutter-down strike across Pakistan on that day. The way Pakistan’s oppressed people have supported this movement, we want you to also support this call.”

Political leaders, human rights activists and families of victims have for decades spoken against alleged killings in Balochistan by security agencies in what they call staged encounters, a practice where officials claim the victims were killed in a gunfight though they were summarily executed.
Authorities deny involvement in such incidents.

Balochistan, which shares a porous border with Iran and Afghanistan, has been the scene of a low-level insurgency by Baloch nationalists for around two decades.

The separatists say they are fighting what they see as the unfair exploitation of the province’s wealth by the federation. The Pakistani state denies it.