KARACHI: Police on Saturday resorted to baton charge scores of people protesting against increasing cases of enforced disappearances of Baloch people on the main Mauripur Road.

The Baloch Yakjehti Committee (BYC), Voice for Baloch Missing Persons and relatives of the missing persons organised the protest demonstration.

They blocked the main road for vehicular traffic, forcing the law enforcement agencies to intervene.

The organisers alleged that the police had detained several protesters.

However, Mauripur SHO Ghulam Husain Korai said that a man, identified as Dad Shah Baloch, had been missing from the Hawkesbay area since Aug 11. The protesters claimed that he was taken away by the law enforcers, and the family had also approached the Sindh High Court against his disappearance. On Saturday, they blocked the main road.

The SHO said he held talks with them which resulted in the end of the protest on assurance that an FIR would be lodged about the missing person.

The SHO denied baton-charging the protesters and said no one was arrested.

“Instead, some persons were brought to the Mauripur police station in their own vehicles for registration of an FIR and they were not arrested,” he said.

However, the BYC in a statement alleged that the police baton-charged the protestors, including women and children and detained Wahab Zahid Bugti; Ms Saeeda, daughter of missing Hameed Zehri, and several others.

Published in Dawn, August 27th, 2023