Pakistan: Government releases 34 more Baloch protesters after negotiation committee advice

34 additional Baloch protestors who were detained during a police operation in the federal capital of Pakistan last week have been released by the caretaker government. The proclamation states that after meeting all legal criteria, the protestors who had been arrested were released. It added that, at the recommendation of a negotiation commission led by Caretaker Prime Minister Anwaar-ul-Haq Kakar, all imprisoned Baloch demonstrators had been released. Caretaker Privatisation Minister Fawad Hasan Fawad led the PM’s negotiation team, which spoke with the demonstrators, according to a report from Geo News. In addition, the demonstrators called for the detained individuals’ instant release. Prior to this, during the first round of negotiations, the administration issued an order for the release of every woman protestor who had been detained during the police crackdown. The “extra-judicial killing” of a Baloch youth by Counter-Terrorism Department agents in Turbat earlier this month sparked protests among the Baloch people, according to Geo News. Baloch women embarked on a protracted march on December 6 in response to the event, and they arrived in Islamabad on December 20. But as soon as they arrived in the nation’s capital, police broke up the protesters’ camps outside the National Press Club and began to crack down on them. The police arrested the majority of the protestors during the crackdown, which infuriated people around the country. In the meantime, the administration justified its decision to begin a crackdown by saying it was an essential step to prevent a “catastrophe.” Furthermore, lawmakers, analysts, and human rights groups also harshly denounced the police crackdown on the Baloch marchers, according to a report by Geo News. The Pakistani government was given a seven-day ultimatum by the Baloch Yakjehti Committee (BYC), a well-known organiser of the Baloch protest march in Islamabad, to comply with their demands, which included the “elimination of enforced disappearances and extrajudicial killings”. Among the demands was the signature of a document aimed at ending “enforced disappearances and extrajudicial killings” under the supervision of the Working Group. In addition, she called for the termination of “state-sponsored death squads,” limitations on the Counter-Terrorism Department (CTD), and the release of all victims of enforced disappearances. It was suggested that the Ministry of Interior “confess” the deaths of people who went missing during fictitious meetings, along with a news conference listing all of the victims and an appreciation letter. The activists from Balochistan also underlined that in order for the state to show that it is serious about putting an end to human rights abuses and unlawful actions in Balochistan, it must establish that it is committed to addressing the “Baloch genocide”. (With agency inputs)