QUETTA: An anti-terrorism court (ATC) in Quetta on Tuesday handed Baloch Yakjehti Committee (BYC) chief Dr Mahrang Baloch and other organisers of the group into police custody for 10 days, extending their three-month detention.
In March, Mahrang and other BYC members were arrested for “attacking” the Quetta Civil Hospital and “inciting people to violence”, a day after the group faced a police crackdown while protesting against alleged enforced disappearances. The BYC is a Baloch advocacy group working against enforced disappearances since 2018.
Mahrang has been held at the Hudda District Prison in Quetta under Section 3 of the Maintenance of Public Order (MPO) — a law that empowers authorities to arrest and detain individuals suspected of posing a threat to public order.
Mahrang’s counsel, Advocate Israr Baloch, told Dawn.com that the BYC organiser and five other activists were presented before Judge Saadat Bazai, who approved the state prosecutor’s request for their 10-day physical remand.
The other activists were Gulzadi, Bebow Baloch, Sibghatullah Shahji, Ghaffar Baloch and Beberg Baloch. Advocate Shoaib Baloch also appeared in the court as their lawyer.
The BYC members were presented in the court in “four different” first information reports (FIRs) after the last extension in their MPO detention expired, Israr added.
Advocate Jibran Nasir, who has served as Mahrang’s counsel in a case last month, shared with Dawn.com the FIR numbers provided by Mahrang’s family of the four cases.
According to a BHC judgment from May provided by Nasir, the FIRs included those registered at the Civil Lines police station on March 19 for storming the Civil Hospital and at Brewery police station on March 2 for blocking the Western Bypass Road in Quetta.
Mahrang was taken into custody under MPO for a period of 30 days (first term) on March 22. Thereafter, her detention was extended for an additional 30 days (second term) through a decision of the Balochistan Home Department in April.
After the BYC leaders had completed three months in custody last month, the provincial government issued a fourth extension order, extending their imprisonment by another 15 days.
Referring to that, Nasir said in a post on : “After the state ran out of ways to exploit colonial MPO laws the liberty of the BYC leaders is now being infringed by exploiting the ATC and penal laws.”
“Expect long remands, delayed hearing of bail applications, likely dismissal of bail from ATC and when bail would finally be granted, expect another arrest and transfer to another district jail in another,” the renowned rights lawyer wrote.
BYC member Sammi Deen Baloch, in a post on X, called it a “matter of concern” that activists were being taken to court without evidence.
“Such actions not only cause the state to lose its credibility but also render its own legal and judicial system ineffective and meaningless,” she added.
While the BYC is not listed among banned organisations by the National Counter Terrorism Authority (Nacta), Mahrang is included on its list of proscribed persons .
Constitutional petitions seeking the release of Mahrang and two other activists were rejected by the Balochistan High Court (BHC) in May.
Subsequently, Mahrang’s sister Nadia Baloch appealed the Supreme Court in June against the BHC decision.
The petition alleged that her repeated unlawful detention and labelling her as a “sympathiser of militants” was a planned effort by the respondents to stop her from raising her voice for missing persons .
The same month, the Kech chapter of the BYC launched a three-day hunger strike in front of the Turbat Press Club in protest of the leadership’s arrests.
