Rights group urges Pakistan to release Baloch activists protesting against disappearances News
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Rights group urges Pakistan to release Baloch activists protesting against disappearances

Amnesty International on Thursday condemned the “systematic attack” on the rights of Baloch activists in Pakistan. The organization called for the immediate release of detained protesters, including prominent human rights defenders Dr. Mahrang Baloch, Sammi Deen Baloch and Bebarg Zehri, and demanded a thorough investigation into the police violence during a March 21 protest in Quetta.

The statement follows a wave of detentions and reported use of unlawful force by law enforcement agencies in Quetta and Karachi. The latest crackdown began after an activist member of the regional rights organization, Baloch Yakjehti Committee (BYC), Bebarg Zehri and his brother were detained on March 20. During the protests demanding their release, the police reportedly killed three protesters. Dr. Mahrang Baloch, who led a sit-in protest with the victims’ bodies, was arrested in a pre-dawn raid on March 22.

The rights group criticized the use of multiple First Information Reports (FIRs), preventive detentions under the Maintenance of Public Order Ordinance, and anti-terrorism charges despite the peaceful nature of the protests. Babu Ram Pant, Deputy Regional Director for South Asia at Amnesty International, stated that:

Pakistani authorities must immediately release all Baloch activists being detained simply for exercising their right to freedom of expression and peaceful assembly. Amnesty reiterates its call for a prompt, thorough and impartial investigation into the use of unlawful force during the 21 March peaceful protests and ensure those responsible are held to account and the violations are effectively remedied.

Earlier on Tuesday, the Baloch Human Rights Council (BHRC) urged the UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to intervene in response to the ongoing repression of peaceful protests in Balochistan. It sought the immediate release of Dr. Mahrang Baloch and other detained members of the BYC, who had organized demonstrations across the region.

Recently, the UN independent experts echoed these concerns, condemning the excessive use of force and the pattern of arbitrary detention and enforced disappearances. They called on the Pakistani authorities to clarify the fate and whereabouts of missing activists and to cease using counter-terrorism laws against human rights defenders.

Last year, Human Rights Watch criticized the Pakistani government’s response in light of the violence that broke out in Balochistan in July 2024. The group also urged the government to release all individuals arrested for peacefully protesting and to restore internet access in affected areas.

The crackdown follows longstanding tensions in Balochistan, where activists have accused the state of enforced disappearances, extrajudicial killings, and suppression of dissent. As of January 2023, Pakistan’s Commission of Inquiry on Enforced Disappearances had reported nearly 9,000 cases since 2011, although Baloch groups such as the Voice for Baloch Missing Persons claim the real number exceeds 23,000. Additionally, the UN Working Group on Enforced Disappearances has documented over 1,000 unresolved cases in the region since 2014.

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