ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Wednesday asked the capital police to not treat the Baloch protesters as “enemies”.
Justice Miangul Hasan Aurangzeb’s remarks came as he heard a petition filed last week challenging the protestors’ arrests and denying them the right to protest in Islamabad.
The hearing was attended by the senior superintendent of police (SSP) operations, the advocate general (AG) Islamabad and the lawyer representing the oragnisers of the protest, the Baloch Yakjehti Committee (BYC).
Expressing his indignation, Justice Aurangzeb asked the SSP operations whether the order to treat the protestors ‘harshly’ was given by him. “You make some people sit in your lap while you treat others like this”, the judge remarked as he referred to the mass arrests the protestors were subjected to on reaching Islamabad on foot from Kech, Balochistan. “They have come [here]. Let them sit”.
During the hearing, the petitioner’s counsel stated that 34 Baloch protestors were still in custody who were still to be presented in an identification parade. He added that an individual named Zaheer, named in the first information report (FIR) registered at the Kohsar police station, is missing.
At this, the SSP informed that Zaheer was in jail and could not be released due to non-payment of bail money.
Meanwhile, the AG Islamabad maintained that it was “easy to blame the government, but not one Baloch person from among the protestors is missing”.
“A larger number of protestors than these have come here [Islamabad] before. You have pampered them. What did they [Baloch protestors] do?” the judge asked the SSP.
The petitioner’s lawyer pleaded that the court demand a report from the capital’s police explaining the arrest of the more than 50 women protesters.
“There is a lot that I would like to say, but I cannot,” Justice Aurangzeb remarked.
He then ordered the police to conduct an identification parade of the 34 arrested Baloch protesters by today, and also instructed the Islamabad Police to submit a report explaining the arrest of the female protesters.
The IHC adjourned the hearing of the case till December 29.
Crisis escalates
The government authorities claim to have released all Baloch protesters who arrived in Islamabad to highlight the issue of missing persons but were rounded up in a crackdown.
However, the Baloch Yakjehti Committee (BYC) — the protest organizers — contests the claim, asserting that Islamabad Police have failed to release all detainees despite lapse of the three-day deadline.
The BYC announced that people in Balochistan will stage demonstrations and strikes starting Wednesday in protest against authorities’ highhandedness.
“We doubt the government’s sincerity as its negotiation team, assigned by the premier for talks, has not reached out to us in the last two days,” stated a protest leader.
Caretaker Federal Minister for Information Murtaza Solangi, part of the PM’s committee, affirmed that the BYC march participants were released by court after due legal procedures.
“We await the protesters’ demands to proceed with negotiations. Once these demands are presented, we anticipate further discussions,” he stated.
Gul Zadi, a female participant in the march, voiced dissatisfaction with the government’s lack of commitment to meeting the protesters’ demands and missing the deadline. Consequently, she said, the BYC is expanding the protest’s scope.
