KARACHI: More than 40 activists of the Baloch Yakjehti Committee (BYC) were picked up in a pre-dawn action on their protest camp set up outside the Karachi Press Club.

Police and the BYC said that protesting Baloch activists, including women, staged a sit-in following a police action against their rally on Friday afternoon.

However, a heavy contingent of police took action against them in the wee hours of Saturday morning and arrested over 40 protesters including children.

DIG-South Syed Asad Raza told Dawn that 13 women and nine underage boys were also detained but they were released later.

He said 21 men were formally arrested and an FIR was registered against them for violating a ban on unlawful assembly in Red Zone.

He claimed that the police had tried to convince the protesters to end their sit-in as the provincial government had imposed a ban on gathering of more than four persons in the Red Zone of district South district but they did not listen.

While the DIG denied any torture on the protesters, the BYC said in a statement that at around 1:30am on Saturday the police raided their camp outside the KPC, manhandled their workers and took away nearly 80 protesters including Fauzia Baloch.

The BYC said that the police shifted the held persons to the Arambagh and Preedy police stations.

It criticised the governments of the Pakistan Peoples Party in Balcohistan and Sindh for subjecting peaceful protesters to executive high-handedness. It said that the PPP’s attitude was in direct contravention to the ideology of slain former prime minister and PPP chairperson Benazir Bhutto.

The BYC asked PPP chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari and his sister, Aseefa, to realise that holding a peaceful protest was the right of every citizen.

13 remanded in police custody

A judicial magistrate on Saturday remanded 13 BYC activists in police custody in a case pertaining to raising provocative slogans against state institutions.

Police produced the suspects before the court and stated that they were arrested on Aug 2 near the Arts Council roundabout for chanting provocative slogans against state institutions during a protest rally.

The investigating officer sought their custody while the defence opposed the plea.

A judicial magistrate (South) handed over the suspects to police on one-day physical remand with direction to produce them again after the end of their remand along with a progress report.

A case was registered under Sections 153-A (Promoting enmity between different groups, etc.), 505 (statements conducing to public mischief) and 34 (common intention) of the Pakistan Penal Code on the behalf of the state at the Arambagh police station.

Published in Dawn, August 4th, 2024