Pakistan: Whisked away: Baloch nationalist leader Lal Jan goes missing

The Express Tribune

Balochistan National Party-Mengal (BNP-M) leader Lal Jan Baloch went missing on Wednesday from the Uthal area of Lasbela district. Lal Jan had served as BNP-M’s deputy secretary general and had quit his political activities eight years ago.

“Lal Jan was present on his farmland in Uthal when security forces whisked him away along with two of his farm labourers,” BNP-M’s acting chief organiser Dr Janzeb Jamaldini alleged during a press conference at Quetta Press Club on Tuesday.

Condemning the incident, Jamaldini announced a series of protest demonstration across the province. He said the BNP-M would hold protest demonstration on November 3 and observe a shutter-down strike across Balochistan on November 7. “We will intensify our protests, if the missing BNP-M leader is not released.”

Jamaldini alleged that the security forces had picked up more than 200 activists of the BNP-M in the past one-and-half-year – right after National Party (NP) came into power.

“The local administration and government do not know about these raids as security forces do not consider provincial government an authority,” he said, adding that “Balochistan Chief Minister Dr Abdul Malik Baloch has failed to solve the issue of missing persons and extra-judicial killings.”