Detained leaders of the Baloch Yakjehti Committee (BYC) continued a sit-in inside Huda Jail in Quetta for the fourth consecutive day on Tuesday against what they describe as a “non-transparent” and “faceless” trial, as lawyers in the city also protested against video-link proceedings and demanded open-court hearings.
Several BYC leaders, including its chief organiser Dr Mahrang Baloch, Beebow Baloch, Gulzadi, Bebarg Zehri and Sibghatullah Shahji, have been incarcerated since March 2025 and are protesting against the transfer of their cases to video-link proceedings from inside jail.
According to the BYC, the detained leaders say they have a constitutional and legal right to a fair hearing in an open court and cannot be denied access to lawyers, family members and public oversight.
The organisation said the move towards a “faceless trial” raised serious questions about judicial transparency and the basic principles of a fair hearing.
Family members of the detained leaders said they reached the jail on Monday and waited for several hours, but were not allowed to meet them.
They said the sit-in had entered its fourth day, while family meetings and access to lawyers had still not been allowed.
Relatives said they were concerned about the health and condition of the detained leaders, particularly as the protest continued in intense heat and difficult prison conditions.
The detained leaders have warned that if their demands continue to be ignored, they will expand the protest and begin a hunger strike, according to the BYC.
The BYC demanded an immediate end to “faceless trials” and jail trials, the transfer of the cases to an open court, an urgent hearing on the petition seeking a change of judge, and the restoration of the detained leaders’ legal and constitutional rights.
The BYC said its leadership had remained in state custody for more than a year under charges it rejected, adding that the repeated shift from open-court proceedings to jail trials and now to video-link proceedings showed that the process was being shaped by “the exercise of power” rather than law.
“From open court proceedings to jail trials, and now to faceless proceedings, the repeated changes in judicial procedure further make it clear that these decisions are not based on law but on the exercise of power,” the BYC said.
‘Violation of Fair Trial’
Meanwhile, lawyers in Quetta held a protest outside the Sessions Court, Kacheri and the Anti-Terrorism Court, rejecting what they called “faceless” and non-transparent trials.
The lawyers said the proceedings against the BYC leaders violated the Constitution, the right to a fair trial and the basic principles of justice.
They demanded that all notifications related to the video-link trial be withdrawn and that the proceedings be conducted publicly and transparently.
The lawyers said the issue was not limited to the cases of a few political prisoners, but concerned “the entire judicial system, civil liberties and the supremacy of law.”
“If silence is maintained today over the violation of the basic principles of justice, then tomorrow every citizen will be affected by this lawlessness,” the lawyers said.
They described the move as a serious constitutional and legal crisis and called on lawyers in Balochistan and across Pakistan to join the effort to protect justice, the Constitution and fundamental rights.