Quetta, March 26 (IANS) Against the illegal detention of Pakistan’s Baloch Yakjehti Committee (BYC) leaders and activists, including Mahrang Baloch and Sammi Deen Baloch, amid a brutal police crackdown, the Balochistan National Party-Mengal (BNP-M) has announced a long march from Wadh to Quetta on March 28.
The march will be led by BNP-M President Akhtar Mengal, local media reported.
According to the party statement the decision to organise a long march was taken during the BNP-M’s central executive committee meeting. The party condemned the Pakistani police crackdown on Baloch women.
“The BNP is acknowledging its political responsibilities and formally announcing its protest schedule. A shutter-down strike will be observed, followed by protests in front of Press clubs across the province on March 26. On March 28, a long march will begin from Wadh to Quetta under the leadership of party leader Akhtar Mengal,” the statement read.
Announcing the long march, BNP leader Mengal on Tuesday stated that the movement is against oppression, cruelty, persecution, and injustice of Pakistan’s government. He affirmed that the movement will be peaceful and asked everybody to join the march as one voice.
“I announce a long march from Wadh to Quetta, against the arrest of our daughters and the desecration of our mothers and sisters. I will lead this march myself, and invite all Baloch brothers and sisters, young and old, to join us in this march. This is not just a matter of the arrest of our daughters, it is a question of our national dignity, our honour, and our very existence. We will not remain silent until our mothers, sisters, and daughters are safe,” Mengal posted on X.
Meanwhile the Sindh government detained Baloch Yakjehti Committee (BYC) leader Sammi Deen Baloch and four others for 30 days under the Maintenance of Public Order (MPO) on Tuesday, shortly after a judicial magistrate in Karachi court ordered her release, along with four other activists in a case related to the violation of Section 144.
Speaking to Pakistan’s leading daily Dawn Sammi’s Defence counsel Jibran Nasir stated that out of the five activists, only Sammi Baloch was detained by police under the MPO for 30 days, while the whereabouts of the other four remained unknown.
Earlier the BYC took to the streets against “state brutality and enforced disappearances,” and demanded the release of the arrested Baloch leaders including its chief Mahrang Baloch. But in a police crackdown, several individuals, including BYC leader Sammi Deen Baloch were taken into custody for allegedly violating Section 144.
The Quetta police have so far registered seven cases against more than 500 BYC leaders and activists, including Mahrang Baloch, at four different police stations. Pakistan has charged Mahrang Baloch, chief of BYC, and several other activists of terrorism after she led the sit-in protest against the illegal arrest and illegal police remand of the relatives of the victims of enforced disappearances.
Earlier, Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) vehemently denounced “the excessive and brutal use of force” against the “peaceful protesters of Baloch Yakjehti Committee in Quetta.”
“The oppressive regime has once again crossed all boundaries of brutality in its desperate attempt to cling to power, even at the cost of national unity and integrity,” Pakistan’s leading daily The Express Tribune reported, quoting PTI Central Information Secretary Sheikh Waqas Akram.
“We demand immediate accountability for those responsible for the killing and injuring of peaceful demonstrators and instant release of all detainees, including Mahrang Baloch,” he added.
–IANS
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