QUETTA, Jan 18: The National Party has asked the government to immediately release Zarina Marri, who they allege has been detained and assaulted by agency personnel.

The party also demanded action against people responsible for the detention and mistreatment of the woman and said that such acts could not force the Baloch people to give up their struggle against the ‘usurpers’.

Addressing a rally outside the press club on Sunday, leaders of the party, Shafqat Lango and Niaz Lango, condemned the incident and said the Baloch would never forgive and forget those who had molested the woman in detention.

Without specifying when she had been arrested or molested, they alleged that Ms Marri had been molested in a secret cell of an intelligence agency. .

They accused the government of pursuing the policies of the previous government and said it had failed to end the military operation in Balochistan, release political workers and trace the missing persons.

They said the Baloch people would continue their struggle against injustices and to achieve their rights.

In a statement, the Anjuman Ittehad-i-Marri said the history of Balochistan was full of stories like Zarina’s, adding that during Gen Pervez Musharraf’s rule hundreds of Baloch women had been arrested from Kohistan Marri and humiliated.

The statement said that members of the AIM would try to contact Zarina’s family.

Meanwhile, activists of the PML-Q, Islami Jamiat-i-Talaba and Imamia Students Organisation took out separate processions in protest against Israeli atrocities in Gaza.

Arbab Hashim Kasi and Nasibullah Khan of the PML-Q, Umar Hayat and Zahid Akhtar Baloch of the IJT and Allama Wilayt Hussain and Amir Abbas of the ISO addressed the rallies.

The protesters torched the Israeli flag and effigies of US President George W. Bush and Israeli Premier Ehud Olmert.