Responding to a call by the Baloch Yekjehti Committee (BYC), protesting Baloch from all walks of life enforced a shutter down, chakka jam across major cities and towns of Balochistan province on March 22. At many places, the government has shut down the internet unofficially disrupting ordinary life like banking services, running of schools and colleges. Most newspapers of Pakistan are observing a self-imposed moratorium on all news relating to Quetta, Turbat, Kech, Bolan and other towns. No details are available on any portals or TV channels either regarding the crackdown around 5.30 am on Baloch protestors in Quetta.
Some sketchy details are available on The Balochistan Post which has reported that Dr Mahrang Baloch, accompanied by many other senior BYC leaders, have been arrested and taken to unknown destinations. Some details are also there on various pages of the BYC on Facebook, Instagram and other platforms. Some of these platforms have also hosted images/videos of purported crackdown by various law enforcing agencies personnel on the protestors in Quetta.
According to one such report, Pakistani security forces raided a sit-in protest in Quetta early on Saturday morning, forcibly taking custody of the bodies of three slain protesters and detaining leading activist Dr. Mahrang Baloch alongside several other members of the Baloch Yakjehti Committee (BYC). Their whereabouts remain unknown and these leaders cannot be contacted, despite hectic efforts by the BYC activists who have evaded arrests so far.
The protest sit-in by BYC cadres, led by Dr Mahrang Baloch, had started on the evening of March 21 in Quetta’s Sariab area. The trigger for the protest was the killing of three protesters and injury to dozens other in firing and lathi-charge by the forces which tried to disperse them by using disproportionate force. The initial violence had erupted earlier on Friday in the morning when the police opened fire and used tear gas shells and water cannons to break up a BYC-led demonstration against enforced disappearances. The images of the water cannons being used against the peaceful protestors in Quetta incensed the Baloch all over Balochistan and led to spontaneous protests breaking out in many places.
In a statement issued late on Friday, the Balochistan government through its spokesman Shahid Rind said officers “acted in accordance with the law” after demonstrators allegedly assaulted the police personnel. He denied any highhandedness on the part of the security forces. However, several eyewitnesses and activists disputed Rind’s claim, accusing Pakistani forces of using excessive force against peaceful protesters. This has inflamed passions all over Balochistan as the ordinary Baloch usually do not trust the official versions.
The BYC said that police and state agencies carried out a violent raid on the sit-in at around 5:30 am on Saturday just around dawn. A group of activists claimed that the bodies of the slain protesters were forcibly taken away by the police. At this time, the central and chief organiser of BYC Dr Mahrang Baloch, along with several other senior leaders of the committee, were arrested.
“Quetta police and the administration have arrested Dr. Mahrang Baloch, along with her companions, and forcibly taken possession of the bodies of our martyred youth,” the BYC said in a statement. “Women and children present at the protest site were also subjected to violence.”
Condemning the raid as an “act of terrorism,” the BYC demanded the immediate release of all detained activists and the return of the seized bodies. Meanwhile, a shutter-down and wheel-jam strike is now under way across Balochistan, in response to Friday’s events. Shops, business centres, and major highways across multiple districts have closed.
“Tomorrow, businesses will remain closed, and transport will come to a halt in response to the state’s brutality,”
the BYC had announced in a statement on the night of March 21.
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