Baluchistan— Authorities in Pakistan detained Dr Mahrang Baloch, a prominent and leading advocate for Baloch rights, along with 17 other protesters on Saturday in Quetta, the capital of southwestern Balochistan province, following a sit-in that turned violent, police confirmed.
The arrests occurred during a pre-dawn raid by security forces, which resulted in the deaths of at least three demonstrators, according to a provincial government spokesperson.
Baloch, a well-known figure in Pakistan’s human rights landscape, has spearheaded campaigns for the ethnic Baloch community, which claims it faces extrajudicial harassment, arrests, and killings by the central government in Islamabad. A senior police official, speaking anonymously due to lack of media authorization, stated that Baloch and the group—comprising 10 men and seven women—were apprehended after staging a sit-in outside the University of Balochistan on Friday.
The protesters, organized under the Baloch Yakjehti Committee led by Baloch, were demanding the release of fellow activists they allege were detained by security agencies. Authorities are still determining the charges to be filed against those arrested, the official added.
The operation escalated into a confrontation, leaving three protesters dead. The provincial government and the Baloch Yakjehti Committee have traded blame for the fatalities, with the latter describing the raid as a “brutal crackdown” by state forces.
This incident follows a surge in unrest in Balochistan, highlighted by a recent train siege claimed by the Baloch Liberation Army (BLA), a separatist group that accuses external powers of exploiting the province’s mineral wealth. Officials reported approximately 60 deaths in that assault earlier this month, half of whom were identified as separatists.
The Pakistani government maintains that its security operations target militant groups attacking state forces and foreign nationals in the resource-rich region, which borders Afghanistan and Iran.
The independent Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) condemned the use of force, calling for an immediate end to “disproportionate and unlawful” tactics against peaceful demonstrators and the release of those detained without cause. The HRCP urged a shift toward a “purposeful political solution” to address the underlying tensions in Balochistan.
Mahrang Baloch’s activism traces back to 2009, when she was 16, following the alleged enforced disappearance of her father, whose body was discovered two years later. Named to the 2024 TIME100 Next list of emerging leaders, she was prevented from traveling to the U.S. last year for a TIME awards gala.
In Balochistan, protests are frequently led by women, who assert that men have borne the brunt of a decades-long state crackdown on the region’s ethnic minority.
Source: AP
