Quetta, May 16 (IANS) The Baloch Women Forum (BWF) has strongly condemned the arbitrary detention of Baloch Yakjehti Committee (BYC) leaders and activists by the Pakistani authorities which it said reflects the state of lawlessness in the province.
Baloch human rights defenders from the BYC have allegedly been arrested by the Pakistan’s Counter Terrorism Department or forcibly disappeared, the BWF said while demanding their immediate release.
“In the span of around two months, several leaders and workers of the Baloch Yakjehti Committee have been arrested, including their Central Organiser Mahrang Baloch. These arrests have further intensified the situation and are fueling the already growing hatred among the Baloch civilians for state institutions. We are of the opinion that the so-called parliamentarians and the Law Enforcement Agencies (LEAs) are intentionally worsening the situations here, functioning solely as warlords,” read a statement issued by the BWF.
The BWF also revealed a detailed list of several BYC activists illegally detained by the Pakistani forces.
“The Central Core Committee member of the BYC, Bebagr Baloch, was abducted on March 20 from his home along with his brother Hammal. They surfaced a day later in Bijligarh Police Station in Quetta. After over a month and some days, Hammal was released but Bebagr is still in illegal detention,” the BWF stated.
“The Central Organiser of the BYC Mahrang Baloch was arrested on March 22 after midnight when the police cracked down the protesting sit-in with the dead bodies of three protesters killed by the police earlier. Along with Mahrang Baloch, Baloch activist Beebow Baloch was also detained from Saryab. During her detention, she was threatened and tortured inside the Hudda Jail where she is imprisoned under the black law of Maintenance of Public Order (MPO),” the BWF further stated.
Along with these leaders, numerous BYC activists are also facing illegal detention and abuse in Pakistan while many are charged under the draconian MPO law.
Highlighting the growing human rights violations, the BWF stated that these two months have been testing months for the Baloch community.
“We have observed a rise in the cases of enforced disappearances while several others were martyred in fake encounters and targetted killings. While using acts as PECA and MPO to silence the dissents from shouting out against the injustices, the LEAs have been fully working on enhancing Baloch genocidal policies, including dumping bodies of several already disappeared Baloch. We have continuously alarmed the state and its notorious and concerned institutions to refrain from human-cum-Baloch rights violations, but all in vain,” read the BWF statement.
“We, at the Baloch Women Forum, denounce in the harshest words the brutal police crackdown on Baloch Yakjehti Committee (BYC) and, what we believe, illegal arrests of its leadership for around two months under a colonial-cum-black-law of Maintenance of Public Order (MPO),” the statement added.
The BWF mentioned that, as a stakeholder in Baloch politics, it is severely concerned about the safety and fundamental rights of not only the detained Baloch activists, but collectively for the Baloch as a nation.
The BWF called for the immediate release of detained BYC activists and their family members; stop continuous harassment of peaceful political workers and civilians; end to the growing number of target killings and fake encounters in Balochistan; accountability for all those involved in human rights violations of the Baloch; and, to let the Baloch live peacefully.
The Baloch Yakjehti Committee is an organisation advocating for the rights of the minority Baloch community in Pakistan.
–IANS
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