Balochistan: Families of abducted Baloch stage sit-in protest outside CM house

QUETTA: The families of abducted Baloch, mostly women and children, have shifted their protest camp in front of Chief Minister’s residence in Quetta on Saturday in their efforts to shake the consciences of Pakistani rulers.

Hundreds of families of enforced-disappeared Baloch have been sitting outside Quetta Press Club from past more than 50 days for recovery of their loved ones but nobody from government visited them to hear their demands.

On several occasions, Pakistani officials have assured them to produce their abducted relatives and bring them to courts but they were never brought before any court.

The protesters on Saturday decided to move their camp to the Chief Minister Secretariat to remind him of his broken promises and responsibilities.

Women and children, many of them infants, have been sitting on protest despite freezing weather of Quetta. They were warped in blankets and made fire on the street to keep themselves and their children warm.

Seema Baloch sister of Shabir Baloch said, ‘We will continue our protest until our loved ones are not released. The authorities are trying to scare and harass us. We urge them to leave us alone and let us do our peaceful protest if they cannot help us.’

She said if their loved ones have done anything wrong, they should be presented to the court of law and punished accordingly.

The Voice for Baloch Missing Persons – a representative organisation the families of abducted Baloch – has been campaigning for the release of disappeared persons since 2009.

The campaign, however, gained momentum after 1^st of November when wife and sister of abducted Baloch student leader Shabir Baloch have joined the camp from Awaran.

Since then several other families, mothers, sisters, wives and children of illegally detained Baloch have joined the protest camp which has now continued for more than 50 days.

The Pakistani police tried to stop and disperse the protest and pressurise them to go back to the protest camp outside Press Club but the women and children staged their protest near the governor house in Quetta.

After midnight heavy police forces including women police and two prison vans surrounded the protesters, an impression that if the Baloch women and children do not end their strike they will be arrested.

The participants of the protest demanded the CM must come out and listen to their grievances; otherwise, they will continue their protest for as long as it takes.

Around 1 Am the DC Quetta Captain retired Tahir has assured the protesters that a meeting between them and the CM will be arranged by Sunday evening.

Nasrullah Baloch the chairman of Voice for Baloch Missing Persons said that even though they were assured that CM will meet them but in the past, such promises were not honoured. Hence, women and children were forced to shift their camp to CM house.

The protest has been temporarily postponed until Sunday but they Baloch women and children said they will resume their protest for an indefinite period for the release of their loved ones if their demands are not meet and grievances heard.