Pakistan: Police baton charge people protesting against enforced disappearances of Baloch people

Aug 27, 2023

Islamabad [Pakistan], August 27 : Pakistan police baton-charged the people protesting against increasing cases of enforced disappearances of Baloch people on the main Mauripur road in Karachi, according to the protestors, reported Dawn. 
The Baloch Yakjehti Committee (BYC), Voice for Baloch Missing Persons and relatives of the missing persons organised the protest demonstration on Mauripur Road. 
According to Dawn, the organisers blocked the main road for vehicular traffic and forced law enforcement agencies to intervene. 
Moreover, they alleged that the police had detained several protestors. 
However, Mauripur SHO Ghulam Husain Korai said that a man, identified as Dad Shah Baloch, had been missing from the Hawkesbay area since August 11. 
The protestors claimed that he was taken away by the law enforcers and the family had also approached the Sindh High Court against his disappearance. Following this, they blocked the main road and started protesting, reported Dawn. 
The SHO added that he assured them that an FIR had been lodged about the missing person which resulted in the end of the protest. 
However, the BYC in a statement alleged that the police baton-charged the protestors, including women and children and detained Wahab Zahid Bugti; Ms Saeeda, daughter of missing Hameed Zehri, and several others.
Moreover, the SHO denied the protestor's claims of baton-charging and said that no one was arrested. 
“Instead, some persons were brought to the Mauripur police station in their own vehicles for registration of an FIR and they were not arrested,” he added.
Earlier this week, Amnesty International slammed Pakistan over the multiple cases of enforced disappearances, and secret and arbitrary detentions and called out the authorities to take action and work towards ending this practice.
It also announced that the organisation will present a number of such stories from Pakistan where innocent people were suddenly abducted with no whereabouts known to their families.
Pakistan has a terrible record in human rights. The year 2022 was a dreadful year for Balochistan as the forcibly disappeared record touched 629, extra-judicially killed 195 and tortured 187 people, according to the annual report released by Paank, the human rights organization of the Baloch National Movement.
In April, earlier this year, Pakistan vernacular media Urdu Point reported that a protest rally in Quetta was organised by 'Voice for Baloch Missing Persons' against fake encounters and forced disappearances. The protesters called for the recovery of missing people.
The report highlights the human rights situation throughout the year with infographics. According to this, in January 2022, there were 92 forced disappearances, 15 murders and one person was tortured by the Pakistan army.