Fawad Hassan Fawad says on direction of Anwaar-ul-Haq Kakar, all women & children of Baloch protesters, detained in Islamabad, released

ISLAMABAD, Dec 21 (SABAH): On the direction of Caretaker Prime Minister Anwaar-ul-Haq Kakar, all the women and children of Baloch protesters, detained in Islamabad, have been released.

This was stated by Caretaker Minister for Privatization Fawad Hassan Fawad at a joint news conference with federal ministers Murtaza Solangi, Syed Jamal Shah and other senior officials of Islamabad administration in the federal capital on Thursday.

Regarding the male detainees, Fawad Hassan said around 90 percent of them have also been set free as identification of the rest has not been completed yet.

He said the Islamabad High Court (IHC) has too sought a report from the Inspector General of Police, Islamabad about the protestors and the government does not want to take any decision on a sub-judice matter.

Giving detailed context of the arrests, the Privatization Minister said the Prime Minister has constituted a committee to resolve this issue through talks.

He said we have complete conviction that the people coming from Balochistan have done nothing wrong, but some local elements exploited the situation, which led to clashes between the protesters and the law enforcers.

During the press conference, Fawad Hassan Fawad said that a situation was developed where police clashed with protesters. He further said that the Islamabad police chief Akbar Nasir Khan had also presented the facts before the Islamabad High Court.

He said that the IG told the court that protesters were present from beforehand and they did not instigate the chaos. Fawad said that there were some people present who had already made sure to cover their faces and had planned what to do.

The minister said that the protesters had been advised to protest at another location. “However, they did not pay heed to this advice and when they advanced, the local element which had plans to exploit the situation did exploit it and created such a situation,” he said.

The minister said that the government negotiating team met the protesters, who stated that they had no intention of creating a law and order situation. “As I said before, our conviction is that the protesters from Balochistan were not responsible [for this],” he said, adding that there were locals that wanted to exploit the situation.

Fawad said that there were some people who were still being identified ad investigated. He said that the IHC had directed the Islamabad police chief to inform it about the process by tomorrow morning.

“We have also asked the Islamabad IG to try and not seek more time tomorrow and to identify them. Because we think that a lot of things will come forward after [the process of] identification. Their origin and their identity will help to determine whether they were supposed to be present there or not or whether they were there for a particular purpose.”

Fawad said that more than 90 per cent of the men who were detained had been released. He further said that the government had also noted the “separate grievances” of the people and would bring them to the premier’s attention.

He said that the “peaceful protest” had been ongoing for 23 days, and the Islamabad police and administration did not interfere as long as it was ongoing.

“So to say that there is no permission for peaceful protests is not correct. Peaceful protests and any other kind of protest are restricted to the parameters of the law,” he said.

The minister said that Pakistan’s security situation was in front of everyone. “The administration, police and intelligence agencies had clear and credible evidence that if people were gathered on a main street for an extended period of time, the situation would be exploited.”

He said that sometimes the state was compelled to take steps in order to prevent a major incident, asserting that his heart beat with the province of Balochistan. He said this was the reason the protesters were asked to relocate to H-9 ground or F-9 Park. “This was a credible fear. It was not something prepared and sent by a lower official from the Special Branch. It was a credible fear and it was very important to prevent such a situation from arising,” he said.

He further said that stones were thrown by individuals who were not with the Baloch protesters and had hidden their faces, after which police had to take action.

Meanwhile, Islamabad police posted a video of Inspector General Dr. Akbar Nasir Khan speaking outside the Islamabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ICCI).

“Islamabad is the federal capital and there are still many foreign delegations present in the city. No one wants their lives to be in danger,” he said.

He asserted that the “use of water is not deadly”, saying that there were “neither children nor women” among the protesters. “There were some individuals present in the Red Zone with their faces covered and armed with sticks,” he said.

“We exercised restraint for six hours and refrained from using force. But when force was used against the police, we had to resort to all this for our own protection,” he said.

“The steps taken to disperse the protesters were unpleasant,” he said. He noted that outsiders often came to Islamabad, adding that such individuals were also responsible for the recent death of a constable and his son.

“Those who try to go toward the Red Zone will be dealt with according to the law,” he said. The Islamabad police chief said that the protesters were told to go to H-9 or F-9 park.

“The security of protestors is also our responsibility. The protestors should have obeyed the law and protested peacefully,” he said.