from amnestyinternational: Human rights defender
Saeed Baloch was arrested in
Karachi on 16 January by members of the Rangers, Pakistan’s paramilitary
police force. Following national and international pressure, he was
presented in court on 26 January. The Rangers claimed he had only been
arrested on 25 January. He has been placed under a preventative
detention order for three months under the Anti-Terrorism Act.
from
notanotherillegalarrest.wordpress.com: We condemn the arrest of Saeed Baloch,
General Secretary of the Pakistan Fisherfolk Forum by paramilitary
forces in Karachi and calls for his immediate release. Saeed Baloch is a
veteran activist, NGO Forum on ADB member, former Alternate
International Committee Member and campaigner for fishermen’s rights in
Pakistan Fisherfolk Forum.
Even though there has been no evidence
produced against him in any court, he is now detained for up to three
months without charge under the wide powers granted to the Rangers
in Sindh under the Anti-Terrorism Act. We stand in solidarity with
the Pakistan Fisherfolk Forum and vehemently demands the immediate
release of Saeed Baloch.
With Saeed’s arrest we are once again
reminded of the immediate risks of crude National Laws which are forever
shrinking the space of Civil Society voices across Asia. We urge all
Forum members, activists and global civil society community to express
their voice in demanding the release of Saeed from all fronts. Saeed
Baloch has been an ardent advocate for climate justice, water
conservation and environmental protection and an outspoken opponent of
coal and nuclear energy. In particular, he has also spoken out recently
against the construction of two nuclear power plants on the outskirts of
Karachi, a development that scientists say could pose grave and
potentially-catastrophic risks to the citizens and environment of the
city.
The Pakistan Fisherfolk Forum is one of
the very few people’s movements in the country that have effectively
organized indigenous and local communities against the elitist and
unjust policies of the state. Over time the PFF has developed into
a powerful movement and political force to protect the socioeconomic and
political rights of the indigenous fisherfolk communities in Pakistan,
which has also routinely challenged the government and paramilitary
authorities in Sindh.
We stand in solidarity with the Pakistan
Fisherfolk Forum and demands the immediate release of Saeed Baloch as
well as an end to the targeting of political and social activists and
workers under the guise of anti-terror operations...