ISLAMABAD: The 1500 kilometres long march from Turbat in Balochistan to Islamabad and the peaceful sit-in in the federal capital for 60 days in chilling winter by poor Baloch women have lent new inspiration to all those raising voices against state-sponsored violence in the name of national security.

This was stated by former senator Farhatullah Babar who is also the president of the human rights cell of Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) while addressing the Baloch Yakjehti Camp on Monday evening.

He said the demand of the protesting women to produce before courts hundreds of their sons, brothers, and spouses for any real or imagined crime instead of disappearing them in thin air without a trace will touch the hearts of even the coldest observer of the national scene.

He said that it was most unfortunate that instead of talking with them the state agencies were defaming them as foreign agents to promote some foreign agenda. He said that enforced disappearance was a central issue of Balochistan but the state denied its very existence. This will only increase the alienation of Baloch people from the state and threaten the integrity of the federation.

He said that the Islamabad High Court had ordered that peaceful protestors will not be uprooted but it appeared that the city administration was planning to uproot the peaceful camp of Baloch women protestors.

He said that from various court verdicts and proceedings in the parliamentary committees it was evident that state agencies were behind the enforced disappearances.

He urged the authorities to heal the wounds of the families of victims of disappearances before it is too late and the protestors were forced to take their case to international bodies.

“Let compassion, humanity and rule of law and not the ego of a few individuals serve as the compass,” he added.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2024