A local court in Islamabad has issued non-bailable arrest warrants for human rights lawyer Imaan Mazari and her husband, Advocate Hadi Ali Chattha, in connection with a case alleging controversial social media posts against state institutions and national security agencies.
Additional District and Sessions Judge Muhammad Afzal Majoka ordered that both be arrested and produced before the court on 24 September. Defence lawyers sought to have the warrants cancelled, but the court immediately rejected their request and adjourned proceedings until the same date.
The case was registered by the National Cyber Crime Investigation Agency (NCCIA) under various sections of the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act (PECA). According to the FIR, the couple is accused of inciting ethnic divisions through online posts and of blaming security forces for enforced disappearances in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan.
The move follows recent tensions between Mazari and Islamabad High Court Chief Justice Sarfraz Dogar, after a heated exchange in court during a hearing on the removal of Baloch political leader Dr Mahrang Baloch’s name from the Exit Control List (ECL). Mazari subsequently filed complaints of workplace harassment against the Chief Justice before the High Court’s internal committee and the Supreme Judicial Council. Since then, multiple legal proceedings have been initiated against her.
Authorities have alleged links between Mazari, Chattha and banned groups including the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), the Baloch Liberation Army (BLA) and the Pashtun Tahafuz Movement (PTM), allegations she has strongly denied. Mazari insists her only stance has been to call for accountability over enforced disappearances and for the release of Dr Mahrang Baloch.
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Meanwhile, families of missing persons from Balochistan, who have been staging a sit-in protest in Islamabad for the last 69 days, condemned the warrants as an attempt to silence dissent. They expressed solidarity with Mazari, describing her as a principled lawyer who stood with victims’ families and raised her voice for constitutional rights.
Nadia Baloch, sister of detained Baloch Yakjehti Committee leader Dr Mahrang Baloch, said in a social media statement that Mazari’s “only crime is speaking the truth and standing with the oppressed.” Protesters at the Islamabad camp accused the state of labelling anyone who speaks for Baloch rights, minorities or rule of law as a “traitor,” while rewarding those who undermine the law.
The demonstrators called on the international community and human rights organisations to pressure Pakistan to end what they described as harassment of peaceful activists. They vowed to continue their protest despite what they termed government indifference and mainstream media silence.