Voice for Baloch Missing Persons (VBMP) Chairman Nasrullah Baloch held a press conference in the Quetta Press Club on Friday where he said that filing an FIR (first information report) against peaceful protestors is violation of human rights. He said that the Quetta police had filed a complaint against the campaigners protesting against enforced disappearance and for the recovery of the Baloch missing persons.
Nasrullah Baloch was joined by politician Haji Lashkari Raisani, former HRCP Chairman Advocated Tahir Hussain, VBMP Vice-Chairman Mama Qadeer Baloch and families of the Baloch missing persons. The participants held a press conference in the Quetta Press Club where they briefed the journalists on the recent developments and condemned the filing of FIR against peaceful protestors in Quetta.
Nasrullah Baloch said that the VBMP is a non-political human rights organization that has been campaigning for an end to enforced disappearances and the safe release of Baloch missing persons. He said that the VBMP has never spoken anything against any government institution; we don’t understand why we are being targeted.
He said that our protests have always been peaceful and the fact that the Quetta police has filed an FIR against our campaigners is baffling – it is an act of violating human rights.
He said that if the authorities do not withdraw the complaint, we will carry out large-scale protests throughout Balochistan. He said that we will write open letters to international human rights organizations against the aggressive behaviour of these [law enforcement] institutions.
Former HRCP Chairman, Advocate Tahir Hussain said that such FIRs are filed against perpetrators of political misconduct; filing such a complaint against peaceful protestors is a tactic to silence them. He said that we will employ constitutional means at our disposal to force the authorities to withdraw this complaint.
Enforced disappearances have been a major human rights violation in Balochistan for the past two decades. Rights activists and Baloch nationalists claim that the Pakistani security forces forcefully detain innocent political workers, journalists, human rights activists, student leaders and innocent civilians on fabricated charges and shove them into prisons. According to some estimates, the number of Baloch missing persons might be more than 45 thousand. Some of these have been missing for more than a decade. Their family members have been protesting on the streets of Quetta and Karachi for years but to no avail.
Enforced disappearances have seen a sudden uptick throughout Balochistan in the past few days, especially since the attacks on FC headquarters in Panjgur and Noshki. Tens of individuals have been forcefully detained and moved to unknown locations. A handful of the detainees have been released, but the majority are yet to see the light of the day.
On Friday, the Pakistani forces allegedly forcibly disappeared a Baloch YouTuber named Waris Wafa from district Kech. Wafa has a modest fan following on his YouTube channel where he used to upload funny short videos. He was detained and moved to an unknown location.