Amnesty International called for Pakistan to release high-profile Baloch activists on Tuesday, condemning the arbitrary detention of the protesters. A letter to authorities called for the release of Mahrang Baloch, Bebarg Zehri, Beebow Maloch, Shah Jee Sibghat Ullah, Ghaffar Qambarani and Gulzadi Baloch, who Amnesty International says have been targeted as part of a larger crackdown in Balochistan on peaceful protests and freedom of expression through weaponization of anti-terrorism and public order laws.

Amnesty International pointed out the abuse of laws, including the Maintenance of Public Order Ordinance, 1960 (MPO), the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act, 2016, and the Anti-Terrorism Act, 1997, alleging that the legal system has been instrumentalized to persecute, intimidate and detain peaceful dissenters and protesters. The six activists named were all detained under the MPO, but they have remained detained past the 90-day period allowed under the MPO, which expired on June 22.

The Pakistani Constitution guarantees the right to peaceful assembly under Article 16, the right to freedom of speech and expression under Article 19, the right to life and liberty under Article 10, and the right to fair trial and due process under Article 10A. Pakistan is also bound by international commitments, including the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which protects the aforementioned rights under Articles 21, 19, 9, and 14, respectively.

Amnesty International has petitioned Pakistan to release activists and drop charges against activists who were solely exercising their enshrined rights. It has also called for an end to the broader crackdown on activists and protesters in Balochistan by allowing them to exercise their rights to peaceful assembly and expression without undue restrictions.

Mahrang Baloch and his sister Beebow Baloch were detained in March alongside colleagues during a peaceful sit-in protest in Quetta against enforced disappearances. Mahrang had been head of the Baloch Yakjehti Committee (BYC), a peaceful grassroots movement that demands accountability and an end to enforced disappearances in Balochistan. The other five activists are also affiliated with the BYC.

The BYC announced in a statement that Baloch activist Kareem Jan was extrajudicially killed while in custody. Jan has a history of being forcibly disappeared, being first detained in 2023 and held for eight months before being forcibly disappeared on February 25. The BYC says that there are visible signs of torture on Jan’s body. The BYC called on international human rights organizations and the UN to launch an independent investigation into Jan’s death, stating the death was not an isolated incident but part of an ongoing campaign of repression in Balochistan. Defence of Human Rights, a civil society organization, recorded 2332 enforced disappearances in 2024 alone.

The alleged atmosphere of human rights abuses in the name of counterterrorism comes as Pakistan has conducted a string of drone strikes in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, killing at least 17 people, including five children.