Pakistan arrests activists to stop them from protesting in Islamabad against extrajudicial killings

By MUNIR AHMED
Associated Press

ISLAMABAD (AP) — Human rights activists say Pakistan’s police used water cannons, swung batons, and arrested dozens of activists overnight when they tried to enter Islamabad for a protest. The police action started before dawn Thursday when the protesters completed a nearly 1,000-mile-long convoy and tried to enter the capital to denounce forced disappearances and extrajudicial killings in the militancy-ravaged southwest. Families of missing persons in Baluchistan have been protesting for years. They planned to rally in the capital to draw attention to the death of Balaach Mola Bakhsh. The 24-year-old died in November while in police custody in Baluchistan province.