File photo. Farooq Naeem—AFP
The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Wednesday barred the federal capital’s authorities from harassing or removing Baloch protesters by force from the National Press Club, where they have been staging a sit-in against extrajudicial killings and enforced disappearances since last month.
In his order on a plea pertaining to the alleged harassment and use of force against Baloch families, Justice Mohsin Akhtar Kayani also directed Islamabad’s deputy commissioner and senior superintendent police operations to appear in person during the next hearing on Jan. 5.
During the proceedings, lawyer Ataullah Kundi—representing Baloch activist Sammi Deen Baloch—informed the court that police had arrested several women and children protesters from outside the National Press Club, only releasing them on court orders. He recalled police had subsequently tried to vacate the sit-in venue by forcing women to board buses bound for Quetta, alleging police were still harassing them by seizing speakers and creating tense situations.
To the judge’s query on whether the protesters were trying to advance beyond the sit-in venue, the lawyer replied in the negative. The judge observed that Constitution Avenue has a history of hosting big demonstrations and sit-ins, adding it had also seen months-long sit-ins during which demonstrators hurled abuses at the courts.
Rebuking the federal capital’s authorities, he remarked the Metropolitan Corporation Islamabad was responsible for handling the situation and regretted the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) had not shown any interest in holding local government polls despite court orders. The administration currently operating the municipal authority had no interest in accepting the constitutional rights of citizens, he remarked.
Shifting protest
Meanwhile, rights activist Dr. Mahrang Baloch of the Baloch Yekjehti Committee (BYC)—which has organized the sit-in—told a press conference on Wednesday that the 7-day deadline to recover missing persons had expired and the protesters would now set up a protest camp in front of United Nations offices in Islamabad.
“Our campaign has now entered the third phase and we will not be bogged down by threats and pressures because we have a justified demand based on basic human rights,” she said, stressing the BYC was still willing to negotiate with authorities but not if they continued to adopt a hardline approach.
“They are still harassing our supporters; FIRs have been lodged against our people and nobody was discussing the real issue, which was the recovery of our missing people,” she said, regretting this proved a lack of seriousness in resolving the issue. “We will decide the next course of action in the coming days based on the response of the authorities,” she said. “If all peaceful means to persuade our demands fail, we will establish our camp outside the U.N. office to seek help from the international community,” she added.
To a query, Baloch regretted recent comments of interim Prime Minister Anwaarul Haq Kakar, who had linked missing persons with terrorism. “At least the prime minister has acknowledged that there was an issue of missing persons, and as for declaring them terrorists, I want to know which court has declared them terrorists; what about the implementation of various court decisions to produce the missing persons,” she said.