Quetta rally marks ‘black day’ on August 14

Hundreds of Baloch women and children marched in the streets of Quetta on Tuesday to mark Pakistani Independence Day as a “black day” and protested against the increasing number of alleged disappearances and the military operation in the province.

Baloch women and children carried out a protest rally in the provincial capital on the eve of Pakistani Independence Day. Among the protestors were housewives, social workers, lawyers, and human rights activists. A large number of school-going children and Baloch Students’ Organisation (BSO) activists also joined them.

Organised by the Baloch Women Panel (BWP), the protest rally started from Zarghoon Road amid a heavy security presence. The rally traversed Shahra-e-Iqbal and ended at Mizan Chowk. The protestors chanted slogans against the government, military operations in the province and the alleged disappearances of around 4,000 Baloch people. They also shouted slogans in favor of the Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA) and termed it as their “sole helper”.

Carrying the photographs of missing Baloch people, the protestors chanted anti-Pakistan slogans and demanded “freedom”. They complained that they didn’t have any right to celebrate August 14, as “ the federation was mistreating them”. “It’s the biggest rally ever by Baloch women in the province’s history since 1974,”

Dr Hakeem Lehri, a veteran Baloch nationalist leader, told Daily Times. With veiled faces and sporting black ribbons on their arms, some of the young activists tried to burn the national flag. However, they were prevented from doing so by their senior leaders, who called it “an indecent way of protest”. A woman participant said that Baloch people were subjected to a military regime.

Therefore, it was mandatory for women to get out of their homes and support Baloch fighters in the mountains, she added. “We can’t celebrate August 14 when thousands of Baloch are missing,” she said, alleging that law enforcement agencies carried out an operation in the Mand area and killed a young Baloch doctor, Khalid Baloch, and three others. Such measures would add to the Baloch hatred against the country, she observed. By Malik Siraj Akbar from Daily Times 15.8.07