All Baloch protesters released: committee

ISLAMABAD: All Baloch protesters have been freed with the release of 34 remaining marchers, the caretaker federal government said Thursday.

After a week-long detention, the authorities released 34 remaining Baloch protesters today who had been arrested during a police crackdown in Islamabad.

A declaration stated all arrested marchers were released after fulfilling the legal requirements.

The marchers were released after multiple rounds of talks with the negotiation committee constituted by caretaker Prime Minister Anwaar-ul-Haq Kakar.

The PM's negotiation team — headed by caretaker Privatisation Minister Fawad Hasan Fawad — held talks with the protesters. The marchers had demanded the immediate release of the arrested persons.

After the first round of talks, the government had ordered to release of all the protesting women, who were taken into custody during the police crackdown.

It is pertinent to mention here that the people were protesting against the “extra-judicial killing” of a Baloch youth by the Counter-Terrorism Department officials in Turbat earlier this month.

The long march led by Baloch women, which started on December 6, reached Islamabad on Wednesday, December 20.

When they arrived in the capital, cops launched a crackdown against the protesters and dismantled their camps set up outside the National Press Club. Most of the protesters were arrested by the police, a move that sparked anguish across the country.

Prior to the recent development, the government side defended the crackdown, declaring it a necessary measure to avoid a "catastrophe".

In a press conference last week, Fawad said the government had to take measures to avoid a “catastrophe”, adding that they had intelligence reports about it.

The police launched the crackdown after some “local people” joined the protesters and tried to disrupt the law and order situation, Fawad added. “Some people — with their faces covered — came there and started pelting stones,” the minister claimed.

He, however, admitted that those protesters who reached Islamabad from Balochistan were not involved in the violence.

During a hearing related to the release of protesters, Islamabad High Court’s Justice Miangul Hassan Aurangzeb had pointed out discriminatory treatment meted out to protesters.

The police force against Baloch marchers was strongly condemned by human rights organisations, politicians, and analysts.