Baloch lawyers protest chief justice's visit over issue of missing people
Rally aims to draw attention of international forums to the plight of families of the victims
Islamabad: Lawyers in Balochistan boycotted court proceedings across the province yesterday on the eve of first visit to the region by Pakistan's Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry since his restoration in March 2009.
Wearing black arm bands they observed the protest at the call of the Balochistan bar over the unresolved issue of forced disappearance of a large number of Baloch people during the regime of former military ruler Pervez Mushrraf.
A spokesman for the bar said the protest was aimed at drawing attention of the international forums to the plight of the families of thousands of missing persons.
Though cases of the missing had been taken up by the judiciary, until now there was little progress towards their recovery, the spokesman said.
The chief justice is in the provincial capital, Quetta, for a meeting of the National Judicial Council to be attended by chiefs of high courts of all the four provinces of the country.
The province, which borders Iran and Afghanistan, has been beset by recurring acts of sabotage and targeted killing of settlers in a low-scale insurgency involving militant groups from the Baloch community.
Share in profits
Baloch nationalists allege the community has been deprived of its rightful share in profits from the region's mineral resources as well as their right to full provincial autonomy.
The killing of Nawab Akbar Bugti, tribal chieftain and former provincial governor, in a military operation in 2006 fuelled the troubles in the province. Musharraf has been blamed for the Bugti murder and a formal complaint has already been lodged with the police by a son of the slain nationalist leader.
The leadership of the ruling Pakistan People's Party which took power in March 2008 at the head of a coalition has publicly apologised to the people of Balochistan for the wrongs done in the past and is pursuing a programme of social and economic uplift for the province. Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani has also offered to have a dialogue with Baloch nationalist figures.
