The recent months have been very traumatizing for the people of Balochistan with a spike in human rights violations of the indigenous people, including the higher growing number of enforced disappearances of the Baloch across the country – involving women –, more fake encounters, a new wave of target killings of energetic and educated youth, ‘controversial’ Balochistan Assembly’s incapability to quit on the regional natural resources and rendering them to the federation, crackdown on peaceful political workers, excessive and illegal use of law to defend law enforcement agencies’ unconstitutional practices and so forth.
What has been more dramatic is the arrest of Baloch Yakjehti Committee’s (BYC) central and lower leadership, including Dr. Mahrang Baloch, Beebarg Baloch and others, and using the judiciary as a shield to further the harassment of the political workers and create an atmosphere of silence-on-injustice. They were arrested on different dates in March and April (2025), detained illegally at first and then produced on surface under a British-era colonial order, the Maintenance of Public Order (MPO), under which they were detained for a whole month without any production in the court of law. After a month, the detention was enhanced for two more months, making it three months of detainment without legal procedure. And then 15 more days were added after three months.
At the end, when a review board was to consider the fate of the detention, suddenly, the MPO was dropped, and the mentioned political workers were arrested under terrorism charges who were produced before an Anti-Terrorism Court on July 8, 2025. The court rendered them to the police for a 10-day remand after the prosecution demand. And then hereon, the drama began.
Four days after the remand order, the Special ATC judge, Mr. Saadatullah Khan Bazai was transferred from the charge of the seat and another Mohammad Ali Mubeen was posted on the said charge, raising concerns for fair and impartial judicial review with a sudden transfer-posting. Today on Friday, July 18, when the parties appeared before the court, the prosecution side demanded more days saying that “their investigation had not been completed and hence they required more time”.
From March 22, 2025, to July 18, 2025, which makes it four months, the prosecution-cum-law enforcement agencies could not complete a simple investigation, when could they do it? It is the violation of the accused persons’ right to free and fair trial, and illogical and illegal detention without even considering their right to free environment.
In the legal dictionary, there is a maxim: “Accused is the favorite child of the court.” It means that until an allegation is proved against an accused person, they will be entitled as innocent. The court favors every bit of the accused persons and the prosecution side needs to be very much confirmed and reliable of any charge they make against a person. But here, despite clear intentions of the prosecution to amplify the case beyond logic, reasoning and without evidences, the court is favoring the prosecution without even listening to the arguments of the legal counsel of the accused persons. “Justice delayed is justice denied” is another maxim which shows how the state’s Executive and Judiciary organs are on the same page against the human rights violations of the Baloch in general, detained BYC leaders in particular.
On the other hand, when the families of the detained leaders, and other illegally disappeared Baloch – receiving disappointments from the corridors of justice in Balochistan – have turned to the federal capital, Islamabad, for getting heard and justice, the federal city welcomed them with more disrespect. The capital-city administration – of course under superior obligations – threatened and forced the tent-owner to take away his property. When the families managed a tent of their own in compulsion owing to rain, the police forcefully stopped them to even use their own tents to escape rainwater. They sat out on rain but continued their sit-in demanding simply the release of their loved ones and an end to harassing them.
Yesterday on July 19, the administration enhanced the drama: they sealed all the ways leading to the “Press Club” in a direct attempt to cease the families from even going to the PC. Normally, a press club is the place where a citizen is allowed to protest and get their plea recorded, but for the Baloch, the laws and constitution are different: for the several past decades, state and its institutions have merely focused on the exploitation of the Baloch land while the indigenous people have been their threats. But still, Baloch protestors have been peaceful and simply recording their plea.
Today on July 20, the fifth day of the protesting camp, the Islamabad police did even worse. They forcefully restrained the families from even coming in the area of the press club. Instead, they were seen pushing the Baloch protesters and threatening them. After enduring every other sort of capital-city-police barbarism, including sealing roads to PC, not allowing tents, leaving them sitting on rain and continuously threatening them to leave, they are now resorting to direct threats and pushing away the families, hinting that “Baloch are not endorsed by Islamabad” – yet again – and perhaps the final time.
Amidst all these, they are resisting. They will resist until the very end. But what message is Islamabad giving with such brutal counter-acts? It will all be mapped in the minds of every single Baloch that how Islamabad treated them, including their mothers, sisters and aged persons, when they went there only to record their voice for justice.
Secondly, no people around the world was ever silenced through force. The state’s hard-policies reflect that they want to suppress the people in Balochistan through force which is nothing more than a delusion or a daydream.
