Islamabad High Court Chief Justice Aamer Farooq Thursday warned the capital city’s top cop against any hindrance in the protest staged by the Baloch marchers, saying that they have the constitutional right of demonstration.
The remark came during the hearing of a case pertaining to the “illegal” arrests of Baloch long march participants in Islamabad.
Islamabad Inspector General Akbar Nasir Khan appeared before the IHC bench upon being summoned by the CJ after the court took up a plea against the arrest of Baloch protesters — earlier in the day.
The long march participants were detained by authorities during a demonstration in Islamabad against the enforced disappearances of Baloch missing persons. The march began in Turbat and was heading towards the Islamabad Press Club when the police intercepted them late Wednesday night.
Meanwhile, the caretaker government said on Thursday that all women and children had been released.
“On the directives of the premier, it was decided that all women and children, without any exceptions, were released. Further, all men who have been identified have also been released,” said privatisation minister Fawad Hasan Fawad at a press conference alongwith Information Minister Murtaza Solangi and culture minister Syed Jamal Shah.
Following the outcry, the government had formed a negotiating team comprising Solangi, Fawad and Shah to hold talks with the families of the protesters.
During the press conference, Fawad said that a situation was developed where police clashed with protesters. He further said that the Islamabad police chief Akbar Nasir Khan had also presented the facts before the Islamabad High Court.
He said that the IG told the court that protesters were present from beforehand and they did not instigate the chaos. Fawad said that there were some people present who had already made sure to cover their faces and had planned what to do.
The minister said that the protesters had been advised to protest at another location. “However, they did not pay heed to this advice and when they advanced, the local element which had plans to exploit the situation did exploit it and created such a situation,” he said.
The minister said that the government negotiating team met the protesters, who stated that they had no intention of creating a law and order situation. “As I said before, our conviction is that the protesters from Balochistan were not responsible [for this],” he said, adding that there were locals that wanted to exploit the situation.
Fawad said that there were some people who were still being identified ad investigated.
He said that the IHC had directed the Islamabad police chief to inform it about the process by tomorrow morning.
“We have also asked the Islamabad IG to try and not seek more time tomorrow and to identify them. Because we think that a lot of things will come forward after [the process of] identification.
