Protest against arrest of political workers: Govt urged to stop military operation


dawn.com/2007/08/09/nat21.htm
By Our Correspondent

QUETTA, Aug 8: Family members of Khair Jan Marri and activists of the Baloch Women Panel (BWP) on Wednesday jointly organised a protest demonstration against extra-constitutional arrests of political workers by security forces.

They asked the government to stop military operations in Balochistan and release all detainees.

The protesters chanted slogans against the government and intelligence agencies and condemned the killing of Balochs in operations, raids on the houses of political leaders and activists and denial of access of family members to the people in custody.

BWP spokesperson Shakar Bibi Advocate, mother of Khair Jan Marri and sister of Wahid Qambar addressed the protesters assembled outside the Quetta Press Club.

They said that members of the BWP, who had been observing a token hunger strike for the last 10 days, would continue their protest till August 14, adding that they would announce the future course of action if the government failed to release the detainees by then.

They said that hundreds of innocent people had been killed and a number of political activists arrested during the military operations in Balochistan.

They said the usurpers were depriving the Baloch people of their land and looting their resources, but they had failed to undermine the struggle of patriotic Balochs. They said the Baloch people would continue their struggle against injustice and appealed to the Chief Justice of Pakistan to take notice of unconstitutional methods of the personnel of intelligence agencies who were insulting women and arresting and torturing the detainees in the custody.

Meanwhile, the token hunger strike being observed by members of the Baloch Students Organisation (Mohinuddin group) to protest against the arrest of political activists, including BNP-M leader Sardar Akhtar Mengal, entered the third day on Wednesday.

A large number of political leaders and workers of different parties visited the hunger strike camp set up outside the press club. They expressed their solidarity with protestors and assured them that they would continue to support their struggle against the oppressors.