<\/p>\n
Baloch protesters, who had been camped outside Islamabad\u2019s National Press Club (NPC) since December, called off their sit-in on Tuesday.<\/p>\n
The announcement came a day after the NPC penned a letter<\/a> to the Islamabad police requesting the removal of the Baloch rights camp. The NPC\u2019s request was later withdrawn following severe criticism from all quarters, including journalists.<\/p>\n The protesters had been demonstrating in a sit-in organised in front of the NPC by the Baloch Yakjehti Committee (BYC) against enforced disappearances and extrajudicial killings.<\/p>\n The camp was established on December 22 and had persisted despite harsh weather. Further, organisers of the Islamabad sit-in had also accused police of harassing their supporters and profiling them as well as registering first information reports against them.<\/p>\n In the letter to the Islamabad police, the NPC had requested that a plan be drawn up to relocate the protesters to a different location so \u201cthe difficulties for the press club and all residents and the business community can be reduced\u201d.<\/p>\n The letter said that the press club\u2019s sole means of income were press conferences and seminars held at its premises. It said the sit-in and its related issues such as security requirements were impeding not only the club\u2019s members but also the holding of its events, as well as the local business community and residents.<\/p>\n Responding to the letter, Dr Mahrang Baloch, one of the protest organisers, had expressed dismay and said the journalist and media community \u201chave an obligation to stand with people whose voices are neglected\u201d.<\/p>\n Addressing a late-night press conference, she had also said demonstrators were \u201cunder severe pressure to vacate the camp\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cWe are being harassed and threatened, with police circulating false information and journalists being stopped from visiting us. We are told there is a possible threat around the press club area,\u201d she had said.<\/p>\n In a press conference today, Mahrang termed the letter by the NPC a \u201cstain\u201d on the profession of journalism.<\/p>\n \u201cWe will take back the message of hate we received. We will remember everything that has happened with us,\u201d she asserted, adding that the protesters would head back to Balochistan tomorrow.<\/p>\n \u201cWe are not against the state, the state is against us,\u201d she said, adding that Baloch protesters had been trying to communicate with the authorities to find a solution to the issue of missing persons.<\/p>\n \u201cIt is a shame that despite election campaigns being under way, no political party has spoken about the issue of missing persons,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n Earlier today, the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan said that it stood in solidarity with the Baloch camp that \u201chas faced persistent harassment from local law enforcement as well as dismissal from government authorities\u201d.<\/p>\n It also said it was \u201cdeeply concerned\u201d by efforts to uproot the camp.<\/p>\n \u201cThe validity of the Baloch protestors\u2019 demands cannot continue to be ignored, and must be heeded with the legitimacy it deserves, not with undue force or defamation,\u201d the commission said.<\/p>\n Separately, the NPC clarified that its request regarding the removal of the Baloch protest camp was \u201ctaken out of context\u201d and \u201cviewed with suspicion\u201d.<\/p>\n In a fresh statement today, a copy of which is available with Dawn.com<\/em>, the NPC said it had always given a platform to Baloch protesters and yesterday\u2019s letter did not have intentions to hurt anyone or \u201ctake a particular stance\u201d. Rather, it had called for the safety of the demonstrators, it claimed.<\/p>\n \u201cThe request came in light of present security concerns (which include threats of attacks) and took into consideration the safety and well-being of the journalist community,\u201d the NPC stated.<\/p>\n It said the letter addressed to the Islamabad police yesterday was withdrawn owing to a \u201cmisunderstanding\u201d. The NPC alleged that certain people operating \u201cwith an agenda\u201d were trying to create a rift between the club and Baloch protesters.<\/p>\n It concluded that the NPC had always accommodated various groups and would continue providing a platform to those who needed it.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Baloch protesters, who had been camped outside Islamabad\u2019s National Press Club (NPC) since December, called off their sit-in on Tuesday. The announcement came a day after the NPC penned a letter to the Islamabad police requesting the removal of the Baloch rights camp. The NPC\u2019s request was later withdrawn following severe criticism from all quarters, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":51411,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/i.dawn.com\/large\/2024\/01\/23153116f8ecee7.jpg?r=160107","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-51410","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-pakistan"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51410","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=51410"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51410\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/51411"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=51410"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=51410"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=51410"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}NPC says letter \u2018taken out of context\u2019<\/h2>\n