Quetta:In a strongly worded statement issued by the Awaran District Bar Association, the recent use of tear gas, baton charges, and disrespect towards women during a peaceful protest organized by the Baloch Unity Committee in Quetta has been denounced as a grave violation of constitutional rights and laws.
The peaceful protest, aimed at highlighting the enforced disappearances in Balochistan, was forcibly disrupted by police actions targeting participants, including women and children, on the pretext of maintaining public order.
“This brutal crackdown against peaceful demonstrators, including tear gas shelling, baton charges, and other inhumane acts, is a stark example of coercion and a blatant disregard for democratic norms and tribal traditions,” the statement read, pointing out that peaceful protest is a fundamental constitutional right.
The protest was organized in response to the alleged enforced disappearance of Zahid Baloch, which the state has remained criminally silent about, despite the inclusion of a large number of relatives, women, and children in the demonstration at the Press Club Road, who tried to stop the protest by inflicting the worst violence by police on the public and the state.
