The demonstration was held at the Quetta press club. Protesters chanted slogans against the government and security forces accusing them of killing political opponents while in custody.
Addressing the protesters, BSO leader Banuk Andali criticised the judiciary for being a mere “spectator” in dealing with the issue of missing persons and the extra-judicial arrest of young Baloch people and political opponents.
“The chief justice took notice of missing prisoners but completely ignored the long-standing issue of missing Balochs and the worsening human rights situation in the province in which the security agencies are directly involved,” she said. Andali added that attitude towards Baloch people can be gauged by how they received decomposed bodies of their loved ones during the holy month of Ramazan and even on the eve of Eid.
The protesters urged the United Nations and other international humanitarian organisations to intervene and take notice of the “inhumane treatment” of Baloch political opponents.
According to BSO, as many as four bullet-riddled bodies of its activists have been recovered from different parts of the province while 16 of its activists are still missing.
Also on Saturday, a law enforcement agency’s team defused a rocket in the Kirani area of the city. According to the police, they received information that a rocket was found in the Kirani drain after which the team reached the spot along with a bomb disposal squad that defused the device.
Meanwhile a strike was called by the citizen action committee in Pishin to protest against an increasing rate of crime in the district. Main commercial centres and shops remained closed in the town and its outskirts during the day.
With additional input from APP
Published in The Express Tribune, December 26th, 2010.
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