ISLAMABAD: Shafqat Ali Khan, the spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA), stated on Thursday that a press release by some UN experts was apparently based on selective and unconfirmed media reports.
“We have taken note of the press release issued by certain UN experts…. It is imperative that public statements of this nature adhere to principles of objectivity, avoid selective criticism, reflect factual accuracy, and acknowledge the full context of the situation,” Khan said in his weekly press briefing.
He said this in response to the demand of UN human rights experts for the release of Baloch activists arrested recently in Pakistan.
Police cracked down on members of the Baloch Yakjehti Committee (BYC) in Karachi and Quetta for violating the law.
Dr Mahrang Baloch has been named among 150 individuals, including prominent leaders from the BYC, facing charges encompassing various serious offences such as terrorism, incitement to rebellion, and murder.
Mahrang, along with 17 others, was arrested under Section 3 of the Maintenance of Public Order (MPO) Ordinance.
The case accused Mahrang and the BYC leadership of assisting rioters in shooting police officers, passersby, civilians, and their protesting colleagues, which resulted in the deaths of three individuals and left 15 police officers injured.
The group is also facing charges for their involvement in a chaotic attack on the Civil Hospital and forcibly taking the bodies of attackers from the Jaffer Express train bombing.
The FIR states that the accused stopped a private ambulance at Hockey Chowk, beat the driver, and loaded the bodies into the ambulance.
Additionally, another FIR was filed against BYC leaders Gulzadi Baloch, Ali Jan, Shoaib, Syed Noor Shah, Waheed, Jahanzeb, Zohaib Baloch, and over 100 other individuals at the Brewery Police Station in Quetta.
A group of UN independent human rights experts said that Pakistan must immediately release detained Baloch activists and cease its crackdown on “peaceful” protesters.
“We have been monitoring with growing concern reports of alleged arrests and enforced disappearances of Baloch activists over the past number of months, and the violent incidents in the past few days have significantly increased our concerns,” the experts said.
