A protest demonstration was held on March 20 outside the University of Balochistan in Quetta’s Sariab area, organised by the Baloch Yakjehti Committee (BYC). Dr Mahrang Baloch was leading the protestors shouting slogans against the highhanded manner in which the Pakistan security forces indulge in enforced disappearances of the Baloch youth. During the past few years, she has emerged as an iconic figure of peaceful Baloch resistance against the Pakistani state.
The protest was mainly organised to condemn the enforced disappearance of Bebarg Baloch, his brother, and other victims of enforced disappearances. The protestors also shouted slogans against the police for violence against the families who had gathered to identify the bodies of their missing loved ones. Some reports in Pakistani newspapers said that the protestors forcibly entered the morgue of the civil hospital in Quetta and took away some bodies. The number of bodies taken away by the protestors is not clear and it is much later that exact numbers are likely to be known.
According to BYC activists, Pakistani law enforcement agencies, including the Counter-Terrorism Department (CTD), had forcibly abducted Bebarg Zehri Baloch, a central committee member, along with his brother, Dr Hammal Zehri Baloch, a PhD scholar and biotechnologist. The incident occurred on Thursday morning in Quetta, the capital of Balochistan, where security checks and raids have been intensified in recent days, The Balochistan Post said.
In an official statement shared on X, the BYC strongly condemned the enforced disappearance of its senior leader and his brother. The statement read: “At approximately 5:30 AM on March 20, personnel from state forces, including the so-called Counter-Terrorism Department (CTD), raided the residence of Bebarg Zehri in Quetta and forcibly took him and his brother into custody. Dr. Hammal Baloch, a PhD holder, was also abducted in this blatant act of repression aimed at silencing Baloch voices. The BYC unequivocally condemns these unlawful abductions and demands the immediate and unconditional release of both individuals.”
The news regarding forced abductions of a senior Baloch leader, along with his brother, spread all around like wildfire and protestors started gathering in thousands spontaneously.
There were clashes between the protestors and the police personnel present on the spot as they initially tried to prevent and forcibly stop the marchers. However, the number of protestors was so large and overwhelming that the police backed out and allowed the protestors to demonstrate. The police said the bodies taken away by the protestors had been brought to the hospital from the site of Jaffar Express hijacking. The bodies were those of the terrorists the Army and other security forces had killed during the hostage relief operations.
These claims were stoutly denied by the activists of the BYC who said that the bodies were of those people who were subjected to enforced disappearances. The relatives who were in mourning had identified the bodies of their dear ones who had been killed in cold blood by the Pakistani Army, intelligence agencies and death squads backed by the establishment.
A BYC spokesperson said the protesters had been trying to gain access to the morgue for last two days. They wanted to see the bodies and satisfy themselves that any of these bodies kept there were not of their loved ones. However, the police lathi-charged them and all hell broke loose thereafter as the protestors overwhelmed the perpetrators of violence.
He also claimed that police later recovered most of the bodies from protesters in areas like Secretariat Chowk and Sariab Road. A number of people have also been arrested in connection with the incident.
Addressing the large gathering of protestors, Dr. Mahrang Baloch accused Pakistan’s military and state institutions of violating the constitution and using force to silence dissent. “Our demand was within the framework of this country and its constitution, but here the constitution and the law are carried in the pockets of the military,” she said.
“Today, our struggle is not only against the armed forces but also against Pakistan’s law enforcement institutions, which have become tools of these forces,” she added. Dr Baloch also alleged that the state security agencies, including the Parkistan Army, the intelligence agencies and the police, routinely label victims of enforced disappearances as “absconders”, only to later discard and dump their mutilated bodies in isolated places, or in the dark of night on roadside.
She criticised the state narrative on Balochistan, asserting, “Believe me, the Baloch are now far removed from your narrative,” she added. “You have been testing your strength on Balochistan for the past seven decades.” Of late, she has been known to have used harsher words regarding enforced disappearances and other human rights violations.
Traditionally, the Baloch society has been male-dominated with women confined indoors doing house chores. However, for the past few years, women are out on the roads protesting against the Pakistani authorities and leaders like Dr Mahrang Baloch have emerged to take centrestage.
The BYC said the protest was organised in response to the abductions and continued harassment of Baloch activists and families of missing persons. On Wednesday night, BYC leader Bebarg Baloch and his younger brother Dr. Hammal Baloch were forcibly disappeared by the Counter-Terrorism Department (CTD) from Sariab.
Earlier on Tuesday, several women sustained injuries when Pakistani forcces baton-charged families who had gathered outside Quetta’s Civil Hospital. The families were seeking to identify the remains of 23 bodies transferred to the hospital by Pakistani security forces some days earlier. The protestors wanted to see the bodies and try to identify them as they suspected that some of their loved ones subjected to enforced disappearances may have been killed and dumped in the hospital morgue.
