Independent UN experts on Wednesday demanded that the Pakistani government release Baloch rights activists detained after recent protests and curb the crackdown on the demonstrations against alleged enforced disappearances and other human rights issues.<\/p>\n
On Friday evening, police used tear gas, water cannons, and blank shots to disperse Baloch Yakjehti Committee (BYC) protesters staging a sit-in in Quetta, with both the provincial government and BYC reporting casualties\u2014BYC claiming three dead and 13 injured, while police reported around 10 personnel hurt.<\/p>\n
The arrest of BYC chief organiser Dr Mahrang Baloch under terror charges with 150 others sparked shutter-down strikes in various cities of Balochistan. In Karachi, BYC leader Sammi Baloch was detained for protesting and later held for disturbing public order despite a judicial magistrate ordering her release with four activists detained.<\/p>\n
In a statement issued today, a group of independent human rights experts affiliated with the UN said the government \u201cmust immediately release detained Baloch human rights defenders and cease its crackdown on peaceful protesters\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have been monitoring with growing concern reports of alleged arrests and enforced disappearances of Baloch activists over the past number of months, and the violent incidents in the past few days have significantly increased our concerns,\u201d the experts were quoted as saying in the joint statement.<\/p>\n
It added that they expressed concern about the \u201cescalating series of actions\u201d against the BYC leadership in the wake of this month\u2019s Jaffar Express train attack in Balochistan\u2019s Bolan district, \u201cafter which several prominent Baloch human rights defenders from the BYC were allegedly arrested by Pakistan\u2019s Counter Terrorism Department or forcibly disappeared\u201d.<\/p>\n
Referring to last Friday\u2019s events, the experts said they once again witnessed the use of excessive force as a first response by the authorities to peaceful protests.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe understand the deeply traumatic impact of the March 11 terrorist attack, and we express our deepest sympathy to the victims of this attacks, yet a response which relies on arbitrary detention, enforced disappearances and violent crackdowns on freedom of assembly cannot alleviate that trauma.\u201d<\/p>\n
Referring to the circumstances of Mahrang and Sammi\u2019s detentions, the experts said they were \u201cextremely concerned\u201d for their welfare and that of other human rights defenders detained for exercising their right to peaceful assembly.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe urge the Pakistani authorities to immediately release them and to refrain from abusing counter-terrorism or public safety measures against human rights defenders, and we call on the authorities to clarify without delay the fate and whereabouts of all those reportedly subjected to enforced disappearances,\u201d the experts said.<\/p>\n
The statement concluded by saying that the experts called on the government to address conditions conducive to terrorism, in line with the UN Global Counter-Terrorism Strategy, adding that they were already in contact with the authorities regarding their concerns.<\/p>\n
\u2018Comments lack balance and proportionality\u2019
\nThe Foreign Office, in response to the UN experts\u2019 statement, said that the comments were based on \u201cselective and unverified media reports\u201d and lacked \u201cbalance and proportionality.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have taken note of the press release issued by certain UN experts, which appears to be based on selective and unverified media reports. It is imperative that public statements of this nature adhere to principles of objectivity, avoid selective criticism, reflect factual accuracy, and acknowledge the full context of the situation,\u201d the FO said in its statement, issued on Wednesday.<\/p>\n
It added that the comments lacked \u201cbalance and proportionality\u201d and downplayed civilian casualties inflicted by terrorist attacks while disregarding the crimes committed by miscreants who deliberately disrupt public services, obstruct freedom of movement, and create an atmosphere of insecurity.<\/p>\n
\u201cAny credible assessment must recognise that these elements are not mere protesters but active participants in a broader campaign of lawlessness and violence. Their abuses of law and human rights violations cannot be ignored.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Independent UN experts on Wednesday demanded that the Pakistani government release Baloch rights activists detained after recent protests and curb the crackdown on the demonstrations against alleged enforced disappearances and other human rights issues. On Friday evening, police used tear gas, water cannons, and blank shots to disperse Baloch Yakjehti Committee (BYC) protesters staging a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7449,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7448","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-national-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/weeklyyoung.pk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7448","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/weeklyyoung.pk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/weeklyyoung.pk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/weeklyyoung.pk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/weeklyyoung.pk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=7448"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/weeklyyoung.pk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7448\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7450,"href":"https:\/\/weeklyyoung.pk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7448\/revisions\/7450"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/weeklyyoung.pk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/7449"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/weeklyyoung.pk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7448"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/weeklyyoung.pk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7448"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/weeklyyoung.pk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7448"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}