The long march from Quetta to Islamabad organized by the Baloch Yakjehti Council (BYC) continued on Sunday, with demonstrators reaching Dera Ghazi Khan in Punjab, where they staged a sit-in against the detention of several protesters.
According to BYC organizers, police launched a crackdown and detained “at least 20 participants, including women,” who had joined the march against the alleged extrajudicial killings of four Baloch by the Counter Terrorism Department (CTD) in Turbat, Balochistan. They said police intercepted the march in Dera Ghazi Khan and arrested several demonstrators, prompting them to stage a sit-in in the Punjab city demanding their release.
Police, meanwhile, claimed the marchers resisted them when they tried to stop the march due to the imposition of Section 144 in the district, barring the gathering of five or more people. After the participants refused to disperse, they said, several men and women were detained and transferred to police lines. The women, they added, were subsequently released. The law enforcers further maintained Section 144 would remained imposed in the district until Dec. 19 (Tuesday).
The long march, which originated in Quetta, has gathered thousands of participants, with slogans and posters demanding an end to “state terrorism” and any further kidnapping or killing of Baloch in “fake encounters.” The protesters have alleged authorities are trying to prevent their passage by blocking highways, and have vowed they would resist all such efforts to reach the federal capital and express their anger over the killing of Balaach Mola Bahksh.
Earlier, as the protesters passed through Barkhan—the border district of Balochistan with Punjab—a large number of locals joined them and expressed solidarity with the family of Bakhsh, who was slain in an encounter with CTD officials last month.