BYC announces protest at KPC against arrest of its leadership. Authorities in Karachi impose Section 144, ban public gatherings. KPC president urges IG to clear roads around KPC immediately.
Traffic on roads around the Karachi Press Club (KPC), Shaheen Complex and surrounding areas was restored on Monday evening after commuters suffered hours-long traffic jams amid a protest call by the Baloch Yakjehti Committee (BYC) against the recent arrest of the group’s leadership in Quetta.
Roads around the KPC were closed on Monday to all traffic in order to counter an expected protest by the BYC.
Authorities in the port city also imposed Section 144 and banned all public gatherings.
BYC leader Dr Mahrang Baloch along with 17 others were taken into custody during a police raid on their protest camp in Quetta on Saturday. The BYC had announced a protest demonstration at the KPC against the detention of its leaders.
Earlier in the day, both tracks from Deen Muhammad Wafai Road to Fawara Chowk were blocked for traffic.
Meanwhile, KPC President Fazil Jamili strongly condemned the closure of roads around the club and the restriction on movement of journalists.
In a statement, the KPC president urged the Sindh IG to take notice of the “illegal act”. He demanded Sindh’s police chief to issue orders for clearing the roads around the KPC.
It is pertinent to mention here that Dr Mahrang, along with 17 others, is currently being held at the Quetta District Jail under Section 3 of the Maintenance of Public Order (MPO) Ordinance.
She was named among 150 individuals, including prominent leaders from the BYC, facing charges encompassing various serious offences such as terrorism, incitement to rebellion, and murder.
A first information report (FIR), lodged at the Saryab Police Station on Saturday, also named Beebow Baloch, Gulzadi Satakzai, Sabiha Baloch, Sabatullah Baloch, Gulzar Dost, Riaz Gashkori, Dr Shali Baloch, and others among the accused.
Charges against these individuals include violations of Sections 7 and 11W of the Anti-Terrorism Act, as well as 16 sections of the Pakistan Penal Code.
These charges cover terrorism, murder, attempted murder, incitement to violence and rebellion, creating disorder, promoting racial hatred and damaging property.
The case accuses Mahrang and the BYC leadership of assisting rioters in shooting police officers, passersby, civilians, and their protesting colleagues, which resulted in the deaths of three individuals and left 15 police officers injured.
The group is also facing charges for their involvement in a chaotic attack on the Civil Hospital and forcibly taking the bodies of Jaffar Express attackers.
The FIR related to the Civil Hospital incident, which was lodged at the Civil Lines Police Station in Quetta last week, states that 100 to 150 people had stormed the medical facility and forcibly took the bodies of attackers involved in the Jaffer Express train attack from the hospital’s morgue upon the instigation of the BYC leadership.
The FIR states that the accused stopped a private ambulance at Hockey Chowk, beat the driver, and loaded the bodies into the ambulance.
Additionally, another FIR was filed against BYC leaders Gulzadi Baloch, Ali Jan, Shoaib, Syed Noor Shah, Waheed, Jahanzeb, Zohaib Baloch, and over 100 other individuals, at the Brewery Police Station in Quetta.
This case accuses the individuals of blocking the Western Bypass Road on Saturday while chanting slogans against the state and its institutions, inciting public unrest.
It is worth noting that under the leadership of Mahrang, protesters began a sit-in by placing bodies on Saryab Road on Friday night. Later, on the next day, the police launched a crackdown on the protesters, arresting Mahrang and several others.
According to police, Mahrang’s arrest has not been officially disclosed yet, and she is not in the custody of the Civil Lines Police but is being held in District Jail, possibly under Sections 3 or 16 MPO.