March 24, 2025
By Xari Jalil
LAHORE
The sister of Dr Mahrang Baloch spoke to Voicepk in a short interview on Monday where she said that Mahrang was not being allowed access to her legal counsel, nor her family.
Nadia Baloch said that at first none of the family members were being allowed inside in order to meet Mahrang.
“I went with my sister and my brother to meet her, but the jail administration told us that we could not meet her,” she said. “We tried and tried but they refused saying that they had ‘strict orders from above not to allow anyone to meet with her.”
Nadia said that the family requested the jail staff to at least allow her to meet her legal counsel, however even to that they refused.
“They violated several basic rights when they didn’t allow her lawyer inside,” she said. “Everyone has the right to meet their counsel. It’s a basic legal right. From within the jail, Mahrang was also pushing for the staff to allow her to meet her family.”
Eventually Nadia told them that they would not move from the premises and would go on hunger strike unless allowed access to Mahrang.
After pleading for 3-hours & threatening jail staff that I would go on a hunger strike outside if I wasn’t allowed to meet my sister @MahrangBaloch_ , I was finally permitted to see her but only for a couple of minutes.
My younger sister, Iqra, was not allowed to meet her.
When… pic.twitter.com/m5spQ5t9fS
— Nadia Baloch (@NadiaBaloch99) March 24, 2025
“We sat there for a long time, until they allowed only me,” she said. “Before that they were using delaying tactics about us coming the next day.”
Apart from this, no food or clothing was allowed to be passed on to Mahrang inside the prison walls, said Nadia, who is the sister younger to Mahrang.
“When I saw her, she looked absolutely calm and resolute,” said Nadia. “She looked in control, and looked very strong. I know that she is not a person easy to break. Upon seeing me she hugged and asked about the protesters outside and especially asked about the bodies.”
About 32 bodies of unknown people had been placed during the BYC protest which were taken from the Civil Hospital Quetta. The state has accused BYC of stealing the bodies illegally, whereas BYC claims that these may have been bodies of missing persons who were abducted, tortured and are now being referred to as ‘terrorists’.
“BYC’s demand was to identify these bodies, because there are several families here who are waiting for news of their missing loved ones,” said Nadia Baloch. “This is all they were demanding. However first they fired at us, killing three people – ironically adding to the bodies there – and then they arrested Mahrang and others, and took the bodies into custody, secretly burying them in the dark of the night.”
Nadia Baloch says that they have now filed a petition in the High court and are waiting for the court procedure to begin and for Mahrang to be produced before a judge.
Meanwhile Mahrang’s lawyer, Imran Baloch told Voicepk that till now there was no FIR filed against her.
“They are doing exactly what they did with Ali Wazir,” he said. “They are trying to base her arrest on ‘old FIRs’. Which old FIRs, they did not tell us.”
Advocate Imran Baloch said that when the accused is shifted directly to the District Jail without an FIR, it usually points to the accused being charged under 3 MPO. However he adds they (government) is now confused because under 3 MPO she can be released within 30 days so they are using blackmailing tactics and saying that there are other cases against her as well.
“Which of these cases are against her?” he demands to know. “If the district commissioner of Quetta is leading the FIRs, then he has no authority over arresting her under any FIR filed anywhere else outside Quetta as that is not his jurisdiction. If indeed she has been arrested for any older FIRs then the correct procedure must be followed – she must first be kept in physical remand in the related police station, and then after that be moved to judicial remand. ”
He added that at the jail, the staff gave them an option of allowing Mahrang meet either a blood relative or her lawyer. They decided to let a blood relative meet as Mahrang’s mother still has no idea she has been arrested.
“She has been critically unwell since some time so she has not been told,” he said.
Meanwhile Mahrang’s other sister Iqra Baloch took to X to write that her visit to the jail reminded her of a past trauma.
“A visit to Hudda Jail (District Jail) today reminded me of painful memory from childhood when I stood at the same place to see my father behind bars. 18-years ago, it was my father. It is my sister today. Back then, @MahrangBaloch_was by our side but today, NO! We weren’t allowed to meet her.”
A petition has also been filed in the High Court by Imran Baloch on behalf of Mahrang.
Condemnation
Amnesty International also condemned the Mahrang’s detention: ‘More than 38 hours since Mahrang Baloch’s unlawful detention, she is still being denied access to her lawyers and family. There are also worrying reports of continued arbitrary arrests and detentions across Balochistan province. Pakistani authorities must immediately release Mahrang Baloch and all others being detained for exercising their right to peaceful protest, and refrain from implicating Baloch activists in frivolous cases to unlawfully prolong their detention.’
PAKISTAN: More than 38 hours since Mahrang Baloch’s unlawful detention, she is still being denied access to her lawyers and family. There are also worrying reports of continued arbitrary arrests and detentions across Balochistan province.
Pakistani authorities must immediately… pic.twitter.com/fsWYwSdv3W
— Amnesty International South Asia, Regional Office (@amnestysasia) March 23, 2025
Protests in other provinces
Meanwhile the BYC has also organized protests in other major cities outside Balochistan.
A protest was held in Islamabad on Monday, where several activists were present including human rights lawyer Imaan Mazari.
During the protest, the Baloch Students Council condemned the state’s ruthless repression of peaceful protesters across various cities of Balochistan.
“Once again, the state has chosen the path of brute force rather than dialogue, using violence, illegal detentions, and extrajudicial killings to suppress the legitimate demands of the Baloch,” they said.
They complained about the rise in state-led violence over the past few days.
We have witnessed an alarming increase in enforced disappearances and state-led violence against activists, students, and ordinary Baloch who are simply demanding the right to live, said their press statement. The Baloch nation has been subjected to systemic oppression for decades—our homes raided in the dark of night, our loved ones abducted without trace, and our voices silenced with bullets. The streets of Balochistan are stained with the blood of its people who dared to question the state’s unjust policies. Thousands of our people remain forcibly disappeared, and their families continue to wait in agony for their return. The protests that erupted across Balochistan were not only a response to these atrocities but also a cry for justice, dignity, and basic human rights. However, instead of heeding the legitimate grievances of the Baloch, the state has responded with violent crackdowns, mass arrests, and an intensified wave of enforced disappearances.
Protesters said that if the Pakistani state did not rethink its inhumane policies towards the Baloch people, then they would not hesitate to take serious steps in response to this ongoing repression. This may take the form of prolonged sit-in camps, mass protests, or even blocking the Islamabad Red Zone to ensure that those in power are forced to confront the atrocities they continue to commit against our people. The state must understand that the more it resorts to repression, the stronger our resistance will become.
They demanded an immediate halt to the brutal crackdown on peaceful protesters, the release of all forcibly disappeared persons, and an end to extrajudicial killings, adding that they were not criminals; they were victims of systemic oppression, and their struggle for rights was a just one.
Lahore Protest
On Sunday a sit in was held outside the Lahore Press Club where dozens of Baloch students gathered, along with a handful of civil society activists from Lahore. They demanded the immediate release of Mahrang Baloch and condemned the continuous state violence on the Baloch people.