Dr Mahrang Baloch, the central organiser of the Baloch Yakjehti Committee (BYC) and a prominent human rights defender, has sent a letter to the people of Balochistan from prison, where she has been held for the past 14 days under the Maintenance of Public Order (3MPO) law.
The letter, released by the Baloch Yakjehti Committee on Saturday, was written from cell number 5, block 9, at Hudda Jail in Quetta, where Dr Baloch is being held in solitary confinement.
“To my unbreakable compatriots, from cell number 5 in block number 9 of Hudda Jail, your sister Mahrang and Beebow wish you all another Eid in bondage,” the letter begins.
In her message, Dr Baloch addresses ongoing state repression in Balochistan, including political arrests, enforced disappearances, and violence against protesters. She wrote that one of the most painful aspects of her detention was being cut off from current events, as prison authorities provided only two-day-old newspapers.
“Despite this, we know that all of Balochistan is rising in protest,” she said. “It gives us hope that despite the state violence, our nation stands firm and continues to resist.”
She mentioned that the jail in which she is being held is the same prison where her father, who was extrajudicially killed in 2011, had spent three years in detention.
“I am grateful to the state for choosing Hudda Jail for my detention. This place was the centre of my suffering,” she wrote.
“It has been my life’s desire to go to the place where my father was held and where he was tortured. I wanted to experience that last moment, which was his last moment.”
Dr Baloch also referred to the events of 21 March, when Pakistani forces opened fire on a peaceful protest in Quetta, killing 13-year-old Nematullah and 20-year-old Habib Baloch.
She said the bodies were mishandled and that the families of the victims were mistreated by intelligence personnel. She claimed that her own arrest, along with that of Beebow Baloch and others, came as a result of resisting these abuses.
“I saw the Assistant Commissioner of Quetta — his hands were trembling,” she recalled. “He was shouting, ‘Grab those b*****s!’ and ordering batons to be used on Baloch women.”
Dr Baloch criticised state institutions for spending billions on suppressing the BYC movement and accused the authorities of attempting to distort its image through media propaganda.
“The BYC is a movement of ordinary people,” she wrote. “Your crackdown and propaganda are not weakening it — they are making it stronger.”
“We will face every oppression and lie of the state with courage, determination, and organised struggle,” she added.
She described the current moment as a turning point in Baloch political resistance.
“Twenty years ago, it was Baloch men who were imprisoned. Today, Baloch women have become a wall of resistance against your oppressive system.”
Concluding her letter, Dr Baloch wrote, “This Eid, I cannot stand outside the press club with the families of the disappeared, but from cell number 5 of this jail, I join their silent protest.”