April 5, 2006	Wednesday	Rabi-ul-Awwal 6, 1427

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QUETTA, April 4: Dozens of women and children staged a sit-in outside the assembly building on Tuesday in protest against detention of Ali Asghar Bungulzai and other Baloch activists. The protesters chanted slogans against the government and intelligence agencies and called for immediate release of all illegally detained Baloch activists.

The protesters gathered in front of the assembly’s main gate where they were addressed by PPP parliamentary leader Nawab Aslam Raisani, MPA Akhtar Hussain Lango of BNP-Mengal and chairman of the Asghar release committee Nasrullah Khan.

Women MPAs of the BNP-Awami and MMA Farah Azim Shah, Samina Saeed and Amina Khanum expressed solidarity with the protesting women and children.

Speakers called upon the government to either release the illegally detained men or produce them before a court of law and prove the charges against them.

Members of the agriculture workers’ union led by Salim Baloch and Sher Muhammad Lodhi addressed the rally in the hunger strike camp adjacent to the press club and condemned the detention of Saeedur Rehman and Ali Asghar by intelligence agencies.

Representatives of the workers’ union said that Ali Asghar’s children had been on a token hunger strike for the last eight months but regretted that the government had not taken any notice of them.