Pakistan criticizes foreign ‘interference’ in Baloch activists’ Islamabad protest

Baloch protestors stage a sit-in outside the National Press Club in Islamabad on December 23, 2023, against the arrests of its marchers earlier this week. (Photo courtesy: X/@BYCislamabad)

• Foreign office says the country has an independent judiciary that can examine such issues and take suitable decisions
• European diplomats recently expressed concern over reports of a crackdown against Baloch activists in the federal capital

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s foreign office expressed regret over the “interference” by some diplomatic missions in the country that raised concern over the government’s handling of an ongoing protest by Baloch activists in Islamabad, saying the country could deal with its internal affairs on its own.
Last week, the Embassy of Norway issued a brief statement on social media after reports of a crackdown on Baloch protesters in Islamabad, saying it was important to respect freedom of expression and the right to peaceful demonstration.
Many of these Baloch activists came to the federal capital after covering more than 1,600 kilometers from Turbat district where a 24-year-old resident, Balach Baloch, was said to be killed by a law enforcement agency in custody, putting a spotlight over the issues of enforced disappearances and extrajudicial killings.
A similar statement was also issued by the European Union whose envoy in Islamabad said the country’s commitment to free expression was vital to a preferential trade agreement EU member states offered to Pakistan.
“The interference of foreign embassies in Pakistan is regrettable,” the foreign office spokesperson, Mumtaz Zahra Baloch, in her year-end media briefing, according to the Associated Press of Pakistan (APP) news agency.
She said Pakistan had an independent judiciary that could examine such issues and make appropriate decisions.
The government has tried to negotiate with the Baloch activists, but they have demanded a probe into the state of human rights in Pakistan’s southwest by the United Nations.
The foreign office spokesperson also provided a brief overview of the country’s diplomatic endeavors at the outset of the briefing, saying Pakistan was satisfied with the results of its efforts in the multilateral settings.