QUETTA: Baloch activists, who recently staged a month-long protest sit-in in the Pakistani capital of Islamabad, on Thursday called for unity against alleged rights abuses in Balochistan as they returned home to the southwestern province to a warm welcome.
Led by 30-year-old Dr. Mahrang Baloch, ethnic Baloch protesters marched 1,600 kilometers from the southwestern Turbat district and arrived in Islamabad on December 22. The march was ignited by the November killing of a 24-year-old man, Balach Baloch, in the custody of the provincial Counter-Terrorism Department (CTD).
The CTD had said Balach Baloch had links with militants and was involved in attacks in the region. His family and protesters say he was killed in a staged shootout by police, who deny the charge.
On Thursday, these protesters arrived in Balochistan’s provincial capital of Quetta, where they were warmly welcomed and hailed by hundreds of people, mostly women, for highlighting the issues faced by the people of the province.
Speaking to supporters in Quetta, Dr. Baloch regretted the attitude of the authorities during their stay in Islamabad and announced holding a public rally at the Shahwani Stadium in Quetta on Saturday.
“We marched toward Islamabad and sat there for 32 days in bitter cold, but they called us ‘terrorists’,” she told supporters gathered on Quetta’s Sariab Road. “We have to be united against the oppression on the Baloch nation, because we have not received justice from Islamabad for the last seven decades.”
A 30-year-old Baloch activist, Dr. Mahrang Baloch, is addressing protestors in Quetta, Pakistan, on January 25, 2024. (AN photo)
Balochistan has for decades been the site of a low-level insurgency by separatists fighting for a more equitable share of the resources of the mineral-rich province or outright independence from Pakistan. The remote province is Pakistan’s largest by land mass but most impoverished by almost all social and economic indicators.
Political leaders, human rights activists, and families of victims have for decades spoken against killings in Balochistan by security agencies in staged encounters, a practice where officials claim the victim was killed in a gunfight though they were summarily executed. Authorities deny involvement in such incidents.
Seema Baloch, a 37-year-old protester who was present at the Islamabad demonstration, said they did not receive any “sympathy” from the central government, but they did succeed in conveying “our message globally.”
“We have announced a public rally on 27 Jan, 2024 where we will announce our future plan,” she told Arab News.
However, Caretaker Balochistan Information Minister Jan Achakzai told Arab News that any public meeting in Quetta was subject to the administration’s approval.
