Protest staged in Karachi over release of jailed activists

Several political and civil society activists have staged a protest outside the Karachi Press Club to demand the release of all activists imprisoned in Pakistan's northern region.

The Inqilabi Socialists Karachi (ISK), a leftist group, had organised the protest as part of a campaign for the release of prominent human rights activist and senior lawyer from Gilgit-Baltistan (GB) Ehsan Ali and other jailed political activists, including Baba Jan, reports Pakistan's The Nation.

The protesters amassed outside the KPC raised slogans against the GB government and demanded the immediate release of all political activists languishing behind bars.

"We stand united with the political activists of GB who have been detained because of their struggles for the rights of locals," said one of the speakers who participated in the protest.

The protestors also stated that they would continue to raise their voices to put pressure on the GB government to release political activists, and end the human rights abuses in the region.

Ali, who is the president of the Gilgit-Baltistan Supreme Appellate Court Bar Association and former head of Awami Action Committee, was arrested on the night between Sunday and Monday from his home in Gilgit.

A First Information Report (FIR) was registered against him on Jan 8 for sharing a post on Facebook which allegedly hurt religious sentiments of people, according to the reports.

On that note, according to the Dawn, lawyers in Gilgit took to the streets and threatened to expand their protest across the region and boycott court proceedings if Ali was not released forthwith.