Families of Baloch Missing Persons staged a sit-in in front of Quetta Press today on International Day for Human Rights
According to the details received by the Balochistan Post, Families of Baloch Missing Persons staged a sit-in in front of Quetta Press club to mark their protest on International Day for Human Rights.
‘Missing Persons’ connotes the victims of enforced disappearance in Balochistan, wherein, security forces are accused of being the perpetrators.
The sit-in at Quetta Press Club was organized by Voice For Baloch Missing Persons and Baloch Human Rights Organization, whereas, the sit-in was joined by civil society members, students, political activists and the family members of the Missing Persons.
On the other hand, Manzoor Pashteen, a prominent Pashtun human rights activist, was barred from joining the sit-in in Quetta.
According to the sources, Mr Pashteen was not allowed to enter the Quetta city after he arrived at Quetta International Airport, LEAs allegedly forced him to fly back to Karachi.
Government officials blamed security concerns for the deportation of the Rights activist. Interestingly, in a notification released by Balochistan government, Mr Pashteen has been restricted from entering any district of Balochistan for 90 days.
It is pertinent to mention, a similar restriction order was released by Sindh government where Mr Pashteen was asked to leave the province when he had arrived in the Karachi city of Sindh Province, but upon criticism on social media, Sindh government had to take its decision back.
Recently, Human Rights Commission and campaign groups in Pakistan have raised serious concerns over the restriction on the freedom of speech and accused secret agencies of pressuring journalists to not report rights abuses in the country.