A protest in Quetta against the life sentences handed down to Baloch Yakjehti Committee (BYC) leaders Dr Mahrang Baloch and Sibghatullah Shahji spread to several areas on Monday after police baton-charged demonstrators and arrested several protesters, including women.
The protesters, many of them women, had gathered outside Burma Hotel in the Sariab area to demand the release of the BYC leaders and oppose the court proceedings against them.
Local sources said police vans and prison vans surrounded the area before the protest began. Senior police officers, including an SP and DSP, were also present at the site.
Protesters said police moved in as soon as slogans were raised, detaining several male participants. Women protesters tried to intervene, after which police baton-charged the crowd and arrested both men and women, they added.
The arrested protesters were taken to an undisclosed location, while their mobile phones were also confiscated.
Following the arrests, demonstrators blocked Bashir Chowk and turned the protest into a sit-in. The protest later spread further after police and other personnel used force and shelling, with demonstrators blocking the Eastern Bypass and suspending traffic on the route.
By late evening, a fresh protest was also under way on Qambrani Road, local sources said.
In a statement, the BYC said police had again attempted to use force to disperse the peaceful sit-in at Bashir Chowk, but protesters remained firm and the sit-in was continuing.
The group said the protest would not end until all detained persons were released unconditionally. It appealed to Quetta’s citizens, students, lawyers, human rights activists, political workers and civil society to join the sit-in and express solidarity.
Nadia Baloch, Dr Mahrang Baloch’s sister, said the crackdown was unprovoked and that police had surrounded a small peaceful gathering with vans before moving in as soon as slogans were raised.
“We were only having a peaceful sit-in. But the police it seems had never intended to let us have this protest,” she said.
She said police had surrounded the small group of protesters with vans and moved in as soon as chanting began.
“They hit us, and arrested our protesters. They took them to an unknown location,” she said, adding that police officials had promised the detainees would be released if the protest ended, but had not done so.
In a separate post on X, Nadia Baloch said several protesters, including women, had been forcibly taken away, while dozens of demonstrators had been beaten and wounded. She said the protest was continuing in Sariab despite the crackdown
She appealed to the people of Quetta, the media and others to support the protest and raise their voices against what she described as “fabricated cases” and life sentences handed to Dr Mahrang Baloch and Shahji Sibghatullah.
Nadia Baloch also said there were fears of another crackdown against the remaining protesters.
The protesters said the sit-in would continue until those detained were released unconditionally and warned that the protest could expand further.