Balochistan: Simultaneous protests held against abductions of Baloch footballers and women

QUETTA: Hundreds of Baloch women and children held two different protests in Quetta and Mastung against the abduction of Baloch women and four football players on Sunday.

The traffic at Quetta-Chaghai RCD road has been suspended after many Baloch women and children blocked the road to demand the immediate release of four Baloch footballers

The Baloch players Shoaib, Ghulam Rasool, Mushtaq and Abobakar Hasrat were abducted by Pakistan army, FC, and other their local collaborators during match on 4th of December, 2016 whose whereabouts remains unknown since their abduction.

The relatives of Baloch players and other women held a sit-in protest on 7^th of December but they dispersed peacefully after an FC (Frontier Corps) colonel promised and assured them that their loved ones will be released in three day.

However, more than a week has passed since the first protest but the Baloch players have not been released.

Today (Sunday 18 December) hundreds of Baloch women again took to streets and blocked the main Quetta-Chaghai road in two different places.

The protesters were chanting slogans and carrying the pictures of abducted players. They demanded the immediate release of their loved ones.

“The FC colonel has promised us to release the players which mean they are in the custody of FC,” said one the protesters adding that “Pakistani forces have a history of broken promises in Balochistan.”

Meanwhile, a separate protest was held at Quetta press Club against the abduction of Baloch women and children from district Bolan Balochistan.

The protesters said that Pakistan has been committing gross human rights violations in Balochistan from the beginning but in recent years it has intensified the brutalities including enforced disappearances, military attacks, arbitrary arrests and killing of innocent Baloch prisoners under custody.

“Pakistani forces have abducted people from different sections of Baloch society including women, children, and elderly people. Nobody is safe from Pakistani forces’ crimes against humanity in Balochistan,” the protesters said.

The protesters were carrying placards, banners and they chanted slogans against abductions of Baloch women, children, and thousands of other innocent people.

They urged the media persons to help expose the Pakistani state’s accesses in Balochistan.

Addressing the media one of the protesters said, “We don’t know what happened to your pen and moral ethics that you keep ignoring the abduction of our people by Pakistani forces.

“We are demanding the safe release of our loved ones and if they have committed any crime, they should be presented to a court of law.”

She said Pakistan abducts our loved ones, tortures them, and kills them in custody, yet they call us (Baloch) ‘traitors and agents of RAW (India), Mossad (Israel) and other nations’.

The protesters urged free nations of the world to take notice of Pakistani forces gross human rights violations in Balochistan.

The Baloch women and children also urged the United Nation to break its silence on Baloch genocide and take notice of Pakistani state sponsored crimes including enforced disappearances in Balochistan.

They said, “We appeal the Baloch political and human rights organisations to play their role and highlight this human tragedy at all forums.”