13 Baloch Yakjehti Committee activists remanded in police custody

A judicial magistrate on Saturday remanded 13 activists of the Baloch Yakjehti Committee (BYC) in police custody for one day in a case pertaining to chanting slogans against state institutions.

Over 20 people were detained after BYC workers gathered near the Arts Council roundabout to stage a protest rally over incidents of violence and detention in Gwadar on Friday evening.

The police later released the women protesters and booked 13 male activists on charges of inciting violence and chanting slogans against state institutions.

On Saturday, the investigating officer produced the detained suspects — Kamran, Ibrar, Nooral, Moez, Saeed, Sheikh Bilal, Muzammil, Akbar, Muhammad Khalid, Mohammad Ziyab, Zubair Ahmed, Iqbal and Salahuddin — before the judicial magistrate (South) and requested their 14-day remand for investigation.

The counsel for the suspects opposed the police’s plea for their physical remand, contending that they had nothing to do with the protest and were arrested from different areas.

They requested the magistrate to issue directives for the investigation officer to produce CCTV footage of the arrests made during the rally to substantiate his claim.

The magistrate granted the police one-day remand of the suspects with a direction to the IO to produce them on the completion of their remand.

An FIR has been lodged under sections 153-A (promoting enmity between different groups, etc), 505 (statements conducing to public mischief) and 34 (common intention) of the Pakistan Penal Code at the Aram Bagh police station on behalf of the state.

Complainant ASI Mansoor Ahmed stated that he, along with his subordinates, was out on patrol when he reached Din Muhammad Wafai Road near the Arts Council he saw that around 300-350 workers of the Baloch Yakjehti Committee, including women, were staging a protest. They chanted slogans against state institutions with the intention of inciting violence, he added.

On Saturday, members of civil society organisations staged a protest demonstration against the arrests of BYC activists during a peaceful protest outside the press club and the Arts Council.

They demanded immediate release of the activists, saying that protesting peacefully is a fundamental right of all citizens.

On Friday, police had detained over 20 people, including academic Nida Kirmani, for violating Section 144 in the security red zone of Karachi.

The BYC had planned a rally from the Arts Council to the Karachi Press Club. Representatives of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan and other civil society organisations also joined them.

The protesters gathered near the Arts Council where a heavy contingent of police were also deployed at around 3pm. The protesters staged a sit-in in front of the Arts Council. The road from the Arts Council to Pakistan Chowk were closed to traffic.

The protesters demanded the withdrawal of cases against Baloch Yakjehti Committee members and the acceptance of the demands of the sit-in protesters in Gwadar, including immediate release of detained Baloch activists.

Following this, the police detained several protesters, leading to a scuffle between police and protesters, causing Arts Council Chowrangi to be closed to traffic. Over 20 people, including LUMS professor Nida Kirmani, were taken into custody and taken to different police stations. “Six to eight women, including me detained by police were released after a brief detention, while the male protesters remained in the police custody,” Nida Kirmani said while talking to The News. “I don’t understand why the police took action against us under the pretext of Section 144 being imposed, while at the same time another rally passed through the area without any action being taken.”