ISLAMABAD: Hundreds of Baloch protesters, who had been camping outside the National Press Club since December 20 for the recovery of missing persons and an end to extra-judicial killings in the province, on Tuesday wrapped up their sit-in after the ‘round the clock’ harassment at the hands of the Islamabad police.

Dr Mahrang Baloch, one of the organisers, announced the decision to end ‘Phase IV’ of the movement during a press conference outside the press club.

Now, the protest organised by the Baloch Yakjehti Committee (BYC) has moved on to the next phase, which will start in Quetta on Jan 27 with a public gathering.

Ms Baloch said “Phase V” of the movement will focus on the eradication of issue through “creating awareness and exposing state-sponsored oppression… We will bring these inhumane state policies and actions to the public courts”.

BYC says next phase of movement from Jan 27 with rally in Quetta

During the presser, she delved into the harassment meted out to the protesters in Islamabad. She said despite their peaceful sit-in, they were subjected to harassment, threats and profiling. “Then imagine what could be happening to women and children living thousands of kilometres from Islamabad,” she said.

Expressing her dismay with the authorities, she said the state had given them a clear message by declaring them ‘terrorists’ and that the government only cared about the resources of Balochistan and not its people.

“The state departments have stooped low to the point where false security threats were created to divert attention from us, harass us, and end our protest. They lodged FIRs in every region to stop us and arrest our people, but it has only made us stronger,” said the BYC leader.

She also recalled the violence unleashed upon the protesters as they entered Islamabad.

“We were welcomed into the city with batons, water cannons and arrests, and for more than a month, we have not spent a single night where we were not given threats and harassed by the Islamabad police and other ‘secret’ agencies,” she claimed.

According to Dr Mahrang Baloch, the guests who came to attend the ‘Oppressed Peoples Conference’ were also subjected to violence by the police and were barred from entering the camp.

She said the sit-in was a golden opportunity for the state to “reconcile with us, halt violence, and initiate dialogue”. She alleged: “However, they showed the entire world that the treatment of Baloch people will remain violent; the state has shown how non-serious it is about our issue.”

Meanwhile, former senator Farhatullah Babar, in a statement, supported the decision of the Baloch protesters to wind up their sit-in.

“The decision by the organisers to wind up the 60-day-long protest camp in Islamabad of Baloch women and children against enforced disappearances, extrajudicial killings, and death squads in the province is wise and welcomed for having achieved the purpose for which it was set up. When hundreds of peaceful and unarmed Baloch women set out on the long march from Turbat on November 23 last year, they did not expect to secure the imminent release of all those who had disappeared nor hoped to bring to justice the criminals behind the crime,” he said.

Meanwhile, another protest camp led by Nawabzada Jamal Raisani has been established for more than two weeks, demanding justice for the family members and relatives of the victims of terrorism in Balochistan.

However, the Balochistan Shuhada Forum (BSF) camp organisers declined to comment on the BYC’s move to call off their protest.

The BSF had been demanding that the government needed to “listen to the voice of the martyrs of Balochistan”, provide them with financial support, and take stern action against terror outfits in the country.

Published in Dawn, January 24th, 2024