<\/p>\n
The caretaker government on Sunday said negotiations were underway with Baloch protesters, who are staging a sit-in outside the National Press Club in Islamabad against enforced disappearances and extra-judicial killings.<\/p>\n
\u201cA cabinet committee formed by the prime minister is holding talks with the protesters,\u201d Interior Secretary Aftab Akbar Durrani said, emphasising that staging peaceful protests was every Pakistani\u2019s right.<\/p>\n
The statement comes a day after the Baloch Yakjehti Committee \u2014 organiser of the Baloch long march in the federal capital \u2014 gave the authorities a three-day ultimatum<\/a> to quash cases registered against students and activists and release all protesters.<\/p>\n The long march led by Baloch women \u2014 which started in Turba<\/a>t on December 6 after the alleged \u201cextrajudicial killing\u201d<\/a> of a Baloch youth by the Counter-Terrorism Department (CTD) officials \u2014 had reached the federal capital on Wednesday.<\/p>\n The Islamabad police had subsequently used brutal force<\/a> to disperse and detain the demonstrators with over 200 taken into custody from different areas of the federal capital. The action was strongly condemned by human rights organisations, politicians, Islamabad High Court (IHC), President Dr Arif Alvi and caretaker Prime Minister Anwaarul Haq Kakar and analysts.<\/p>\n On Thursday evening, the government said 90 per cent of the Baloch men and women taken into custody were released. However, reports suggested the contrary.<\/p>\n A day earlier, a judicial magistrate granted bail to 162 participants. A protester, however, had told Dawn<\/em> that only half of the protesters had been granted bail. The BYC claimed that though the bail was granted, their release was cancelled.<\/p>\n In a statement today, Durrani said: \u201cWe have ensured, on the orders of the prime minister, that no protesters are harmed, tortured or harassed in any way.\u201d<\/p>\n At the same time, the interior secretary also stated that no one would be allowed to take the law into their own hands. \u201cThe implementation of court order will be ensured,\u201d he added, referring to the IHC\u2019s directives<\/a>, in which it had advised the capital police chief to concentrate on controlling street crimes rather than flexing their muscles against protesters.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, in a post on X (formerly Twitter), the BYC said its movement had entered the 31st day and continued in the form of a sit-in outside the NPC.<\/p>\n \u201cNearly 250 of our students and activists are still in the custody of Islamabad Police but our courage and hopes are high and this struggle shall continue,\u201d it added.<\/p>\n A statement issued by the BYC on X social media yesterday said over 100 Baloch students were \u201cmissing\u201d after the crackdown on the march by the police on Wed\u00adnesday night.<\/p>\n \u201cNearly 350 of our students and families were arrested\u2026the females and 33 students were granted bail the next day, while more than 250 of our students are still in jail\u2026more than 100 still have not been presented before court,\u201d it claimed.<\/p>\n The protesters warned the authorities of \u201charsh steps\u201d if their demands were not met and said the state and the capital administration would be responsible in that case.<\/p>\n They said their movement would continue till the release of missing students and acceptance of the demands of their long march. They also iss\u00adued a charter of demands, see\u00adking a fact-finding mission hea\u00added by a UN Working Group for a detailed investigation into rights violations in Balochistan.<\/p>\n \u201cCTD Balochistan shall accept that it has killed Balach Mola Baksh in a fake encounter,\u201d the second demand read. It called for the recovery of all missing Baloch persons, especially of those whose families were present in the sit-in outside the National Press Club.<\/p>\n The charter also asked the state to abolish the CTD and \u201cdeath squads\u201d in the province. It demanded a press conference from the interior ministry to \u201cconfess\u201d the alleged killing of forcibly disappeared in \u201cfake encounters\u201d.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The caretaker government on Sunday said negotiations were underway with Baloch protesters, who are staging a sit-in outside the National Press Club in Islamabad against enforced disappearances and extra-judicial killings. \u201cA cabinet committee formed by the prime minister is holding talks with the protesters,\u201d Interior Secretary Aftab Akbar Durrani said, emphasising that staging peaceful protests 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of demands<\/h2>\n