Baloch activists protesting against ‘extra-judicial killings’ beaten, arrested in Islamabad

ISLAMABAD: Dozens of Baloch nationalists were Thursday baton-charged, arrested and blocked from entering Islamabad to protest against “enforced disappearances and extrajudicial killings” by state authorities in their home province of Balochistan.

Islamabad police confirmed the arrest of Baloch men and women, blaming them for creating law and order problems.

Videos posted on social media showed security officials using water cannons and tear gas on the protesters, dragging them into police vans and beating them with clubs. Women demonstrators were taken to women police stations.

The Baloch protesters had reached Islamabad on Wednesday night after a long march under Dr Mahrang Baloch (30) from Turbat district, where demonstrations over the alleged killing of a 24-year-old man had been going on since last month.

The Counter-Terrorism Department, a front for the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), has been blamed for the extra-judicial killing of the Baloch youth. Although officials deny involvement, the assassination has reignited discussions about the frequent extrajudicial killings and detentions in Balochistan.

The protesters reached Pakistan’s capital after covering a distance of over 1,600 km. The police, however, blocked all entry points of the city to prevent them from reaching the Islamabad press club, where they had planned a demonstration. The authorities also dismantled their camps and the loudspeakers set up by them outside the press club.

In an X post on Thursday, Mahrang Baloch said the arrested protesters were being moved to different police stations in the city.

“At this time, they are taking women and children to another station. We are unable to connect to our male fellows; we fear that the state will abduct them,” said Baloch, who became an activist in her teenage years after the disappearance and custodial death of her father and brother.

Police said it had arrested the protesters because they pelted officers with stones and were blocking roads.

The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan condemned the “violent police crackdown”, and said women, children and the elderly were subjected to “unwarranted force” and separated from their male relatives.

“This treatment of Baloch citizens exercising their constitutional right to peaceful assembly is inexcusable. It also reflects how little the state thinks of the protesters’ demand that their right to life and liberty be upheld,” it said, demanding that all those detained must be released unconditionally.

Amnesty International expressed deep concern over the excessive use of force by law enforcement against the Baloch protestors, and called for an impartial investigation into all extra-judicial killings and enforced disappearances.

Activist Ammar Rashid said the images of Baloch women, children and youth being beaten and arrested on Islamabad’s streets “will live on in infamy”.