Quetta highway blocked as sit-in enters second day

QUETTA: A protest sit-in against the alleged extrajudicial killing of Balach Mola Bakhsh in a CTD operation continued for the second consecutive day on Wednesday in the Sariab area of Quetta.

The protesters reached Quetta on Monday night after staging a sit-in in Turbat for two weeks. They have set up camps on the main highway near the Kachi Baig area and blocked the road linking Quetta with Mastung, Kalat, Khuzdar and other areas.

Several hundred people from Quetta have also joined the protesters to express solidarity with Bakhsh’s family.

The local administration once again tried to persuade the participants to call off their protest, insisting that their primary demands had already been accepted and steps were being taken to implement the decisions taken by the government on the orders of the Balochistan High Court.

HRCP urges transparent investigation into Turbat’s ‘extrajudicial killings’

However, the protesters’ leaders refused to call off the protest, saying they would continue their sit-in until all demands were met. Quetta’s Red Zone has been sealed and no one was allowed on Wednesday to enter the roads linking the sensitive area with other parts of the city.

Meanwhile, the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) has said the alleged extrajudicial killing of Balach Bakhsh and others in Turbat must be investigated swiftly and transparently, and immediate measures must be taken to ensure that such incidents do not recur.

In a statement issued on Wednesday, the HRCP noted with concern that both enforced disappearances and extrajudicial killings have continued with impunity, particularly in Balochistan, with little realisation on the state’s part that these might constitute crimes against humanity.

“HRCP stands in solidarity with the families of victims of enforced disappearance and extrajudicial killings in Balochistan, who have marched from Turbat to Quetta and are now en route to Islamabad,” the commission said.

“We also condemn the treatment meted out to the protesters in Quetta, who were prevented by baton-wielding police from entering the city’s Red Zone. The federal government must give the protestors a fair hearing in Islamabad and take their concerns seriously,” it said.

Published in Dawn, December 14th, 2023