Former senator and human rights defender Farhatullah Babar has warned against labelling Baloch Yakjehti Committee (BYC) leader Dr Mahrang Baloch or her organization as “terrorists” without evidence or trial. He described such statements as “extremely problematic” and warned they could “backfire.”
Babar, who heads the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Human Rights Committee, made the comments in response to a press conference by the Director General of Inter-Services Public Relations (DG ISPR), Lieutenant General Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry, on Friday.
The military spokesperson had criticized Dr Mahrang Baloch, linking her to “terrorist networks” and calling on media outlets to expose what he described as the “sinister face” of the BYC.
In a post on X (formerly Twitter) on Saturday, Babar said unilaterally declaring the BYC or any group or individual as terrorists was “unwise and dangerous.”
“It is unwise and dangerous to mount a high horse without knowing how to dismount,” he wrote. “Curb the impulse to dub rights defenders as terrorists.”
Dr Mahrang Baloch also responded to the accusations in a statement released from jail and published on her official social media account.
She described the military’s allegations as “baseless” and part of a broader campaign to silence voices in Balochistan.
“This is a serious and recurring allegation made without a single shred of credible evidence,” Dr Baloch said. “This pattern of unsubstantiated claims has become a disturbing hallmark of the DG ISPR’s public statements.”
“Once again, in response to the DG ISPR’s latest accusations, I ask: where is the evidence? If Pakistan’s intelligence and military institutions are as capable as they claim, why has no proof ever been presented against me?”
Dr Baloch described her activism as “peaceful, principled, and grounded in universal human rights values.”
“My activism is peaceful, principled, and grounded in universal human rights values. I have consistently condemned violence, whether committed by non-state actors or the state itself,” she said.