Advocate Israr Baloch, a human rights lawyer representing members of the Baloch Yakjehti Committee (BYC), has alleged that masked armed men forcibly entered his home in Quetta and held his family hostage on Thursday.
In a statement, Advocate Baloch said the incident occurred around noon when several unidentified men broke into his residence. “They held my younger brothers at gunpoint and repeatedly asked about my whereabouts,” he said. “They ransacked the house, threw books outside, took some with them, and left after making threats.”
Advocate Baloch alleged that his family has been facing repeated harassment for over a month. “They are regularly summoned to the FC camp and threatened. They are told to ‘make Israr understand’ and to keep me away from political activities, or else the entire family will suffer the consequences.”
He said the intimidation stems from his legal work defending BYC leaders and citizens targeted in recent state crackdowns. “If any harm comes to me or my family, the responsibility will lie with the state and its institutions,” Advocate Baloch said. “We will not be silenced. The struggle for truth and justice will continue.”
Meanwhile, Dr Sabiha Baloch, a central BYC leader, condemned the raid in a post on social media platform X.
“Israr Baloch, an advocate representing illegally detained BYC leaders, has been facing serious threats. His home was raided, books were destroyed, and his family intimidated,” she wrote. “In Pakistan, political workers and frontline human rights defenders are being arbitrarily detained. Now, even lawyers pursuing legal remedies are being harassed.”
She added that the repeated attempts to link peaceful activism with militancy serve only to justify state violence. “We urge national and international human rights institutions to take immediate notice and hold the state accountable,” she said.