Karachi, March 25
Widespread protests flared in Pakistan's Karachi as the Baloch Yakjehti Committee (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.
Pakistan has charged Mahrang Baloch and several other activists with 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.
Meanwhile, in a police crackdown, several individuals, including BYC leader Sammi Deen Baloch, were taken into custody on Monday for allegedly violating section 144.
"Police scuttled the gathering, and around six protestors, including Sammi Deen Baloch, have been arrested on violation of Section 144 of Criminal Procedure Code and locked up in Women Police Station," said Pakistan's Deputy Inspector General of Police (DIG) Syed Asad Raza.
Speaking to the country's leading newspaper, Dawn, the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan's senior official Qazi Khizar, one of the participants of the protest, stated that the BYC and civil society organisations had given a call for a "peaceful" protest against the detention of Mahrang and others, and the crackdown on activists in Balochistan.
"The police adopted a brutal way to deal with the protesters," the HRCP leader stated, adding that 13 women were taken away, but the number of men was not known.