Baloch activist Mahrang Baloch exposes Pakistani state repression from prison cell

Balochistan [Pakistan], June 12 : Mahrang Baloch, a well-known Baloch rights activist, accused the Pakistani government of targeting peaceful dissenters through imprisonment, smear campaigns, and enforced disappearances in an article written from her prison cell in Quetta's Hudda Jail, according to The Balochistan Post.

Mahrang Baloch writes: "It has been more than two and a half months since I was thrown into Hudda Prison in Quetta, Pakistanthe same place my father was caged nearly two decades ago, also for promoting the rights of the people of Balochistan," TBP stated.

"Since my arrest, Pakistan's state security agencies have deployed every tactic to break me. I have been offered a deal: stay silent, avoid political activity, and you can be home. I refused. The state has failed to produce a single piece of evidence linking me to any act of violence or criminality. The only 'proof' they cite is a press conference I gave a few days before my March 22 arrest," she asserted, as quoted by TBP.

"I spoke to reporters after armed militants had hijacked a train and held 300 passengers hostage for hours. The attack occurred in Balochistan, the largest province in Pakistan, and was carried out by Baloch separatists who have been fighting with the state for decades. At the press conference, I spoke not to defend the hijackers. Our movement, the Baloch Yakjehti [Unity] Committee, has always renounced violence. Indeed, I intended to distinguish between those who confront the state with arms and those who confront it with words," she stated, as quoted by TBP.

She also revealed that "My work had already drawn unwelcome international attention. In May 2024, Pakistani officials were outraged after I visited Norway at the invitation of PEN Norway, the Norwegian branch of PEN International and the World Expression Forum. I was even harassed on Norwegian soil by individuals linked to Pakistan's embassy in Oslo, whose intervention was ended by the Norwegian domestic security agency, PST. When I returned to Pakistan, I was immediately charged with sedition and treated as if I had returned from an ISIS camp in Syria or Iraq rather than one of the most peace-loving countries in the world," the TBP report cited.

She added that "For decades, Pakistan has kept the rest of the country, and the world, in the dark about Balochistan. It remains an information black hole. Among those the military and intelligence agencies have forcibly disappeared, killed, or forced into exile are journalists who dare to write about these atrocities. According to the Balochistan Union of Journalists, more than 40 have been killed since 2000. Foreign media are denied access to the region," TBP report quoted.

She emphasised that "Our movement is rooted in peace. We speak against enforced disappearances, extrajudicial killings, forced displacement, and the systematic denial of basic rights to the Baloch. We are the rightful owners of the Saindak Copper-Gold Project (worth billions of dollars, but the profits are not shared with the local population), the Reko Diq mine (estimated to hold copper and gold reserves worth over $60 billion, but the benefits are not reaching the Baloch people), and Gwadar, the gateway to the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor. Yet, 70% of Balochistan's population lives below the poverty line," the TBP report cited.

She concluded by saying, "Speaking up for justice is not a crime. Raising our voices against state violence is not treason. Demanding rights is not terrorism; it is humanity. And one day, we believe, this struggle will succeed."

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