A court in Quetta has ordered that Dr Mahrang Baloch and several other leaders of the Baloch Yakjehti Committee (BYC) be transferred to jail custody following the expiry of their physical remand.
The detainees were produced in court after completing a 15-day remand period. During the hearing, the Counter-Terrorism Department requested an extension, but the judge rejected the plea and directed that all be moved to prison.
Dr Mahrang Baloch, the chief organiser of BYC, and a number of other activists were arrested on 22 March 2025 under Section 3 of the Maintenance of Public Order Ordinance (3MPO). The law, which allows the government to detain individuals deemed a threat to public order, has long been criticised by rights groups as a tool to suppress dissent, since it permits detention without formal charges being brought. The orders against Mahrang and her colleagues have been repeatedly extended over the past six months.
Today in the court Dr Mahrang Baloch said that “in the past six months, investigators have produced no evidence justifying the imprisonment of BYC members, adding that the allegations by the state, its institutions, and the so-called Chief Minister are entirely baseless.“
In April, their detention was prolonged by another month under 3MPO. The following month, detention orders for around 150 political activists in Balochistan were withdrawn, yet the orders against Mahrang and a smaller group, including Bebow Baloch, Gulzadi Baloch, Sabghatullah Shah Ji, Beebarg Baloch and Mama Ghaffar Baloch, remained in force. The Balochistan High Court has reportedly dismissed constitutional petitions filed by the detainees seeking release, upholding the provincial government’s authority to keep them in custody under the ordinance.
With their physical remand now over, the court has directed that Mahrang and the other detainees be shifted to jail custody. Their legal representatives argue that due process has been undermined, pointing out that formal notifications have not been properly issued and that no judicial review board has convened, as required by law, after the 90-day period of detention.
Supporters of the detainees, along with civil society groups and human rights organisations, contend that the prolonged use of 3MPO in this way violates constitutional guarantees of freedom of expression, the right to a fair trial and other basic protections.