Baloch Yakjehti Committee (BYC) leader Dr Mahrang Baloch has said that she was offered release from the prison and residence in Europe if she agreed to withdraw from her political struggle.
In a statement issued from Huda Jail in Quetta, Dr Mahrang Baloch said the life imprisonment handed down to Gul Zadi Baloch was not merely a sentence but another example of what she described as the continued undermining of justice in Balochistan and the suppression of peaceful political voices.
She questioned the conduct of the court in the case, saying that questions naturally arise about judicial independence and impartiality where a witness is cross-examined in the absence of defence counsel, the defence is not given a full opportunity to present its case, and orders are carried out in the absence of the accused and their lawyers.
Dr Mahrang said Gul Zadi Baloch was a colleague and part of their political struggle. She said that while she could be sentenced to life imprisonment in an attempt to silence her, the voice against what she described as injustice could not be imprisoned.
She further said that pressure on BYC members was not limited to imprisonment and legal cases, alleging that the organisation’s active member Nazar Marri Baloch had also been forcibly disappeared for the past year.
Addressing calls for negotiations, Dr Mahrang questioned how dialogue could take place while BYC members remained imprisoned, their legal rights were restricted and pressure was allegedly being applied on them to abandon their political struggle.
According to her, during a “negotiation process”, continued pressure was exerted on BYC to withdraw from its peaceful political activities. She alleged that they were told that all judges were under the control of the authorities and that any application submitted by them would have no significance.
Dr Mahrang said that despite these circumstances, she and her colleagues chose what she described as a path of political engagement and dialogue. She said they belonged to a political organisation struggling for the basic rights of the people of Balochistan and had never refused dialogue or negotiations over those rights.
She added that, despite the pressure, BYC had submitted its annual report on missing persons to the Balochistan Home Department, which she described as evidence of the organisation’s responsible conduct.
Dr Mahrang said BYC had neither previously accepted nor would accept what she described as political engineering carried out in the name of negotiations. She said the organisation’s struggle was not for any individual or position, but for the basic rights and justice of the people of Balochistan.
According to her, after the organisation rejected the proposals, a four-member military negotiating team told her that she would remain in prison until she accepted their demands. She further alleged that the team told her that the judge had also been instructed accordingly.
Dr Mahrang said she was also offered the release of one person if she accepted the demands, with that individual then expected to leave and implement the proposals, after which the remaining people would also be released. She further alleged that she was offered the opportunity to settle in Europe for two or three years.
She said she rejected these and other offers because, according to her, her political struggle was not for temporary concessions, privileges or personal interests.
Dr Mahrang said BYC had made clear that it would not become part of what she described as a selected parliament representing military interests rather than the public, nor would we leave Balochistan to seek refuge in another country. She said her choice was the people of Balochistan and her path was the struggle for their basic democratic rights.
She said that if imprisonment was the price of this struggle, she was prepared to pay it and continue her political activities from prison.
Dr Mahrang further said that the political issue in Balochistan could not be resolved through the use of force. She argued that the imprisonment of BYC leaders and enforced disappearances of its workers had not brought peace to Balochistan.
She also referred to the sentences handed down by what she called “kangaroo courts”, saying that she considered them an honour for herself and her organisation because, despite the resources used against them, cases, imprisonment and what she described as propaganda, the resolve of their colleagues had not been broken.
Dr Mahrang said she would not compromise what she described as the trust of the Baloch people, adding that political principles and loyalty to the people were more important to her than any personal benefit.
She concluded that sentences and imprisonment could not break the resolve of the Baloch people and said that, if released, she would continue to stand with the families of missing persons, the families of those who had been “martyred”, and other oppressed people of Balochistan, whom she said had made sacrifices for their rights.