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The Baloch Yakjeheti Committee, an organization engaged in Baloch rights advocacy, in its statement released on Saturday declared that their struggle will continue despite Pakistan's repeated attempts to stop their protests. The statement was issued referring to the protest for the safe return of Naheem Rehmat which has been continuing for the last seven days.
https://twitter.com/BalochYakjehtiC/status/1784255822299881755 Referring to an incident of the disappearance of Naheem Rehmat the BYC statement mentioned that "The family members of Naheem Rehmat, a victim of enforced disappearance, have been sitting on a sit-in at Shapak for the past several days, but like every other time, the state is acting obstinately. On the one hand, there is the agony of the forced disappearance of your loved ones and on the other hand, it is a separate suffering to bear such hardships on the streets for their recovery. The state should stop this illegal and unconstitutional series of forced disappearances as soon as possible. Due to this state oppression and lawlessness, Baloch mothers and sisters are on the streets every day, where they are harassed by various means by the state institutions. " The statement by the BYC was released after a handful of people in civilian clothes attacked the protesters injuring several of them, the statement mentioned "Last night, some people in civilian clothes attacked the participants of the sit-in, due to which Sabghatullah Baloch and the women in the sit-in were injured. To sabotage the sit-in, such people are constantly being sent who in different ways sometimes drive over the sit-in participants and sometimes try to intimidate and threaten the sit-in participants in some other way". The BYC further warned by stating "We make it clear to the state and its institutions that the security of the people sitting on the sit-in is also the responsibility of the state and it is also the state's responsibility to accept their demands and rescue their loved ones. We clearly say that the responsibility of all such incidents lies with the state, if another such incident occurs, we will show full public reaction against it, for which all the responsibility rests with the state". Notably, the incidents of disappearances of Baloch individuals have been a dark reality of Balochistan. Previously, the families of forcibly abducted Baloch individuals blocked the Quetta-Karachi highway near the Mastung district of Balochistan. At that time they had urged the people from Mastung and nearby areas to support the families and speak out against enforced disappearances. With time, forced disappearances in Balochistan have become a common issue there. However, amid the recent surge in cases of alleged enforced disappearances of citizens in Balochistan, the government issued a clarification, outright rejecting claims of "thousands of missing persons' cases, a Geo News reported. The provincial government emphasized that the number of cases reported to the Commission of Inquiry on Enforced Disappearances was not in the thousands, adding that the commission was functional and had detected some fake cases as well. However, the BYC at that time had countered the statement and continued protesting against the alleged enforced disappearances of Baloch people. (ANI)
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