QUETTA, BALOCHISTAN: The Baloch Yakjehti Committee (BYC) has issued an official statement strongly condemning the life imprisonment sentences handed down to its chief Dr. Mahrang Baloch and fellow leader Shah ji Sibghatullah Baloch in the Raji Muchhi case, warning that this verdict will mark the beginning of a historic phase of resistance and struggle.
In its statement, BYC declared that sentencing Dr. Mahrang and Sibghatullah to life imprisonment is an expression of hatred against the Baloch nation of Pakistan.
BYC stated that there was no legal foundation for this case. The committee pointed out that two separate and contradictory FIRs exist for the same case, with suspicious evidence throughout. It raised a direct question, how could one FC personnel die on July 27 according to one FIR and again on July 29 according to another? BYC said sentencing public leaders to life imprisonment on such a contradictory basis is not the rule of law but the death of law.
BYC recalled that during the Raji Muchhi incident, four Baloch were killed, dozens were wounded and three were permanently disabled. Yet, the statement said, not a single person has been held accountable for these killings and injuries. Those who fired on the crowd faced no punishment, while peaceful public leaders have been sentenced to life imprisonment.
BYC compared this verdict to the execution of Hameed Baloch forty-five years ago, which was carried out without solid evidence and remains what the committee called a permanent stain on Pakistan’s history. BYC warned that this verdict will similarly remain a dark mark on the record of Judge Mubeen, his associates and the entire judicial arrangement.
BYC emphasized that this is not merely the case of Dr. Mahrang Baloch and Sibghatullah Baloch. It is, the statement said, the case of Balochistan’s public politics, public resistance, the cry of families of missing persons and the collective consciousness of the Baloch nation. This verdict, BYC said, has proven that in Balochistan even remaining peaceful is a crime, asking questions is a crime and raising one’s voice for one’s people is a crime.
Concluding its statement, BYC declared that jails cannot stop this movement and sentences cannot extinguish this consciousness. It warned that while those in power are writing verdicts today, tomorrow history will write the account of those verdicts.
BYC reaffirmed that its struggle is democratic, political and based on rights and that today’s verdict is not the final verdict the final verdict, it said, will be written by the history of the people.
