The Baloch Yakjehti Committee (BYC) has accused Pakistani authorities of deliberately endangering the life of its senior leader Bebarg Zehri, saying the denial of urgent medical care in custody amounts to handing him over to a “slow death.”
Bebarg Zehri is a prominent Baloch activist and a central committee member of BYC. He has been differently-abled since 2010, after suffering a spinal cord injury in an attack allegedly carried out by government-backed militias, locally known as “death squads.”
In March this year, Pakistani law enforcement agencies, including the Counter-Terrorism Department (CTD), detained him along with his brother in Quetta. While his brother was later released, Mr Zehri remains in custody alongside BYC leaders Dr Mahrang Baloch, Sibghatullah Shahji, Beebow Baloch, and Gulzadi Baloch, whose detention has been repeatedly extended.
According to BYC, he requires regular physiotherapy and specialised medical supervision but has been denied even basic facilities. The group said his muscles have undergone severe atrophy, his legs have turned blue due to poor circulation, and he is now at risk of developing deep vein thrombosis, a condition that can cause fatal blood clots.
The statement added that repeated catheterisation has caused a severe infection, leading to a urethral stricture that has completely blocked his urinary system. BYC said this has placed him at risk of kidney failure, blood poisoning and multi-organ failure, requiring urgent surgical intervention.
BYC said doctors who examined him in prison on Saturday recommended immediate surgery, but their legal team’s petition to transfer him to hospital has repeatedly been denied by the Anti-Terrorism Court. The group said the court has for two months remanded him to police custody without any medical examination.
It further claimed that while in the custody of the Cantonment police station and later the Counter-Terrorism Department, Bebarg was not medically examined, causing his condition to deteriorate to a life-threatening level.
BYC described his continued detention as “tantamount to handing him over to a slow death.” The group appealed to international human rights organisations to pressure Pakistan to transfer Bebarg to a fully equipped hospital immediately.
It warned that if any harm came to him, “the so-called provincial government, the police administration and the state intelligence agencies will bear full responsibility.”