Demonstrations were held in Gwadar, Turbat and the federal capital Islamabad against the alleged murder of activist Karima Baloch on Friday. Thousands of protestors took to the streets, demanding a thorough investigation of the death of rights activist.
According to details, Baloch Yakjehti Committee called out a protest in Gwadar against the alleged murder of Karima Baloch. Scores of participants – predominantly women and children – took to the streets to demand justice for the deceased activist.
Addressing the gathering, the speakers said that Karima Baloch had politically awakened the Baloch nation. While living, she educated the women to participate in the Baloch national struggle. And now that she is no more with us, hundreds of Karimas have emerged on the streets, they said.
They said that we are being barricaded on the pretext of development; the dream of isolating Gwadar from the rest of Balochistan will never come to fruition.
The participants also held a candlelight vigil for Karima Baloch and paid tribute to her contribution in bringing the human rights abuses in Balochistan into the spotlight.
In the federal capital Islamabad, a significant number of people also gathered in front of the Islamabad National Press Club to protest the alleged murder of Karima Baloch. The speakers termed her struggle a torchlight for the “oppressed” nations.
The speakers berated the Pakistan Democratic Movement – the coalition of the political parties of Pakistan in the opposition – for their deafening silence on the incident.
Both the government and opposition don’t seem to notice the bloodshed of the Baloch; where should we go? they asked.
The demonstrators demanded a fair and transparent investigation of Karima Baloch’s death.
The Baloch Yakjehti Committee also organized a protest in Turbat for the same cause. A large number of participants – mostly women, children and students – gathered on the streets to raise voice against the alleged murder of the rights activist. They carried placards with various slogans and messages inscribed on them.
Bramsh Baloch, the young survivor of the burglary-turned-murder in Turbat that took her mother’s life, was also present in the demonstration.
The speakers paid tribute to the services of Karima Baloch for the Baloch nation, saying that her perseverance and courage has awakened Turbat. They said that the presence of women in such astounding numbers on the streets proves that Karima Baloch lives within our hearts.
Resonating the demands of all the previous demonstrations, the participants demanded that the Canadian government carry out a fair and transparent investigation of the incident.
They said that we reject the reports provided by the Canadian police. The Baloch nation knows who is behind Karima Baloch’s death, but the enemy is quite cunning and evasive. We want the world to know that the enemy has extended its tentacles to Europe and Canada, they said.
Relatively small demonstrations were also organized in Pasni and Soorab on Friday which the majority of participants were women. The participants deemed the death of Karima Baloch a manoeuvre of the Pakistani state.
Molana Abdul Hameed, a prominent Sunni cleric in the western Balochistan, said in his Friday sermon that the killing of political workers, journalists and activists is not only morally wrong but a great sin. He termed Karima Baloch’s death an act of terrorism, and also condemned the killing of rights activists in Afghanistan.
