LAHORE: Left-wing parties and progressive forces staged a demonstration outside the press club here on Friday to express solidarity with the sit-in going on in Hunza to seek the release of Baba Jan and other political workers in the valley.

Baba Jan’s sister Nazneen Niaz, one of his nieces and activists of Awami Workers Pakistan, Haqooq-i-Khalq Movement, Mazdoor Kissan Party, Communist Party and Kissan Rabita Committee attended the demonstration.

Speaking to the participants, who were raising slogans demanding release of the political prisoners, Ms Niaz recalled that the president had visited them and assured them of help in the release of Baba Jan, but no action was taken.

She urged the rulers not to turn Gilgit-Baltistan into another Balochistan by forcing the people to take steps outside the constitutional domain.

Ammar Ali Jan, Farooq Tariq and Shazia Khan expressed their support for the democratic rights of the people of GB and said they were in solidarity with the unprecedented sit-in in Hunza that entered its sixth day on Friday seeking release of political prisoners in GB.

They recalled that Baba Jan was not there when the protest against Attabad Lake had been held back in 2011, but he was implicated in the FIR and sent behind bars against the norms of justice. They demanded making public the judicial commission report on the incident.

Published in Dawn, October 10th, 2020