Families of detained Baloch Yakjehti Committee (BYC) leaders and the relatives of Baloch missing persons have launched a sit-in protest outside the National Press Club, Islamabad, demanding an end to enforced disappearances and the immediate release of detained activists.
The demonstration, which began this week, includes family members of the BYC leadership who have been in custody for over three months, alongside the long-suffering families of forcibly disappeared individuals from Balochistan. Many of the protesters have spent years advocating for the safe return of their loved ones without justice or resolution.
During a press conference held at the protest site, participants stated that they had once again travelled to the federal capital in the hope that their voices might finally be heard. “In Balochistan, our cries are suppressed on our own soil. Media censorship is rampant, and the doors to truth have been shut,” one speaker said.
The families described Balochistan as an “information black hole,” where narratives are allowed to circulate only with state approval. “Any voice that dares speak against injustice is silenced,” they said.
They also accused state institutions of manufacturing a façade of peace in Balochistan, while the on-ground reality remains one of “repression, enforced disappearances, and political intimidation.”
The protesters named several BYC and human rights figures – Dr. Mahrang Baloch, Beebarg Zehri, Beebow Baloch, Gulzadi Baloch, Shah Jee Sibghatullah, Ghaffar Qambarani, and Imran Baloch – who were arrested in a targeted crackdown following a press conference held in Quetta on March 19, 2024. The group was held under the colonial-era 3-MPO (Maintenance of Public Order) law, despite court orders for their release.
The sit-in organizers stated that even after the legal detention period expired on June 22, the BYC leadership was kept in custody for an additional 20 days before being presented without prior notice in an anti-terrorism court on July 8. There, they were slapped with fresh charges and handed a 10-day physical remand under the Anti-Terrorism Act. Since then, families have been denied visitation rights, and legal teams have reported facing obstructions in court proceedings.
The protesters laid out two key demands: the immediate release of all detained Baloch political leaders, and an end to the what they called the “cycle of enforced disappearances and arbitrary arrests in the Balochistan.”
The demonstrators appealed to Pakistani media, lawyers, civil society, and international human rights organizations to raise their voices in solidarity. They urged the United Nations and the global community to pressure the Pakistani state to release all Baloch leaders and ensure a restoration of human rights and justice in Balochistan.