BHRO activists demand ending of siege at Rauf Baloch's house

The Baloch Human Rights Organization (BHRO) on Sunday staged a protest in front of Karachi Press Club to end the ongoing siege at the house of Rauf Baloch in Turbat by the Pakistani forces.

The BHRO's activist accompanied by students, Human Rights activists and activists of National Student Federation (NSF) raised slogans demanding to end the siege at the house of Rauf, who has been alleged by the forces of hosting the family members of a senior Baloch political leader.

The BHRO in a statement said that the Frontier Corps (FC) and the police have kept Rauf's house under siege for four days.

"The FC and Police have kept Mr.Rauf's house under siege for 4 days where there is an old man along with two women and two children. After 2 days of harassment of women and children FC returned and police took control of the house," the statement said.

Pointing out that police is now torturing the women and children through different ways, the protesters revealed that neither Human Rights activists nor neighbours are allowed to visit the house.

The statement said that the FC and the police do not have any reason to surround and siege the house and the move is only to harass the family activists, adding it increases tension.

It pointed out that the security forces themselves were pushing the bad situation towards worse.

The protesters demanded that if Rauf has breached the law with his activities, he should be treated as per law.

"According to Constitution of Pakistan, politics and democratic struggle is right of every citizen, and if state institutions have any objections regarding activities of any person he should be treated as per law, but in Balochistan unlike legal procedure, military forces' will is the law itself," the statement added.

The statement also highlighted harassment of Baloch women and children is not something new, adding they are tortured through different ways.

"In Makran, Awaran, Jhalawan and Dera Bugti, many women were abducted and killed by Pakistani forces.

Last year in the month of July Pakistani forces abducted two women during an operation from Awaran and were released after a few days. Later they told their story that how they were treated and what tortures they went through in jail," the statement said.

Farzana Majeed Baluch, a Baloch human rights activist, had earlier asserted that history was repeating in itself as the human rights violations committed by Pakistan in Balochistan and the army targeting Baloch women was as bad as the torture and rape of women that took place during the Liberation War of 1971, which eventually led to the creation of a new country, Bangladesh, from what was then East Pakistan.

Meanwhile, the BHRO appealed to the Balochistan Government and other authorities to instruct the military forces to obey the law.

Khuram Ali, the central organizer of NSF, said it is a condemnable act to keep women and children under siege for days.

He demanded that instead of violating human rights and state's law, forces should act reasonable and as per law against the accused person, they consider guilty.

Meanwhile, the BHRO's activists also appealed to the Pakistani media and civil society's organization to reconsider their policy towards Balochistan because remaining silence in this way is to hide the real situation which makes them equal partner in this crime.