ISLAMABAD: In light of the extensive condemnations over the police crackdown against Baloch protestors in Islamabad, the caretaker federal government yesterday clarified that the force was used to avoid ‘upheaval’.

Addressing a joint press conference flanked by caretaker ministers Fawad Hasan Fawad and Jamal Shah, Information Minister Murtaza Solangi said that in line with the directions of caretaker Prime Minister Anwaar-ul-Haq Kakar, a committee has been formed to hold talks with the Baloch protestors. “From the government side, Fawad Hasan Fawad spoke with the protestors,” he added.

The negotiation committee headed by the privatisation minister assured the protesters of addressing all of their grievances.

Following the development, the government ordered to release of all the protesting women, who were taken into custody during the police crackdown a day earlier. It is pertinent to mention here that the people were protesting against the “extra-judicial killing” of a Baloch youth by the Counter-Terrorism Department officials in Turbat earlier this month. The long march led by Baloch women, which started on December 6, reached Islamabad on Wednesday.

When they arrived in the capital, cops launched a crackdown against the protesters and dismantled their camps set up outside the National Press Club. Most of the protestors were arrested by the police, a move that sparked anguish across the country. On his part, the privatisation minister said the government had to take measures to avoid a “catastrophe”, adding that they had intelligence reports about it.The police launched the crackdown after some “local people” joined the protestors and tried to disrupt the law and order situation, Fawad added.

“Some people with their faces covered came there and started pelting stones,” the minister claimed. He, however, admitted that those protestors who reached Islamabad from Balochistan were not involved in the violence. The minister further said that the protestors were earlier requested to stage their demonstration at a location F-9 Park where they could be given protection and security. Responding to a question, the minister said that Islamabad police had been directed to release all the women and children. “Some of them are yet to be identified,” he said, adding that 90% of the men arrested during the crackdown have been released.

Earlier in the day, Islamabad High Court (IHC) Chief Justice Aamer Farooq warned the capital city’s top cop against any hindrance in the protest staged by the Baloch marchers, saying that they have the constitutional right to demonstration. “Let them protest who have come to protest, its their constitutional right,” CJ Farooq remarked.

Published in The Daily National Courier, December, 22 2023

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