Detained Baloch activist Dr Mahrang Baloch and four other members of the Baloch Yakjehti Committee (BYC) have launched a hunger strike in prison to protest alleged torture and mistreatment by Pakistani authorities.
The hunger strike began on Thursday following what the BYC described as the attempted “abduction” of one of its detained members, Beebow Baloch, from Quetta’s Hudda Jail.
Mahrang’s sister, Nadia Baloch, confirmed the hunger strike in a statement on Friday, saying it was aimed at denouncing “the misconduct of the police and the failure of the justice system to protect prisoners.”
According to the families of the detainees, several BYC leaders — including Mahrang Baloch, Bebarg Baloch, Gulzadi Baloch and Beebow Baloch — were allegedly tortured earlier this week by personnel from the Counter-Terrorism Department (CTD), who entered the prison and beat them in the presence of jail officials.
The BYC said that during the incident, Beebow Baloch was forcibly removed from the prison by CTD officers and remained missing for several hours before being transferred to Pishin Jail. Her family said she was subjected to “brutal torture” and has since joined the hunger strike.
In a video statement, Beebow’s brother said that when the family attempted to visit her, female police personnel threatened to arrest their cousin and aunt. After hours of delay, they were allowed to meet her in Pishin Jail, where she disclosed the alleged torture and confirmed that Dr Mahrang and Gulzadi Baloch had also been abused.
A security official said the detainee had been transferred to another facility and denied allegations of mistreatment.
The BYC said all five detainees are on hunger strike, including Dr Mahrang Baloch, Shahji Baloch, Bebarg Baloch, Gulzadi Baloch and Beebow Baloch.
“These are peaceful political workers imprisoned for raising their voices against enforced disappearances, extrajudicial killings, and daily violence inflicted on the Baloch people,” the BYC said in a statement. “Their only ‘crime’ is organising peacefully in an environment saturated with state terror and violence.”
The group said the health and lives of the detainees are now at serious risk and warned that the state of Pakistan “will be held fully responsible for any harm inflicted upon them.”
The detainees were arrested over the past month on charges including terrorism, sedition and murder — accusations widely condemned by rights groups as politically motivated.
Earlier in March, a group of a dozen United Nations experts urged Pakistan to immediately release Baloch rights defenders, including Dr Mahrang Baloch, and to end its crackdown on peaceful protest movements.
UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights Defenders Mary Lawlor said she was “disturbed by reports of further mistreatment in prison” involving Dr Mahrang Baloch, Gulzadi Baloch and Beebow Baloch.
“These women human rights defenders must be released, and while in prison, their treatment must adhere to the Mandela Rules,” she said in a post on X, addressing Pakistan’s mission in Geneva.
The Baloch Yakjehti Committee called on the Baloch public, international rights organizations and “voices of conscience” to stand in solidarity, calling the hunger strike a “fight for survival, dignity, and the right to exist.”