The Baloch Yakjehti Committee (BYC) of Dr Mahrang Baloch announced on April 12 that it will organise massive demonstrations and sit-in protests all across Balochistan on Sunday (April 13). These protests are being planned against the ongoing arrests of its central leadership and what it termed as a systematic state-led crackdown on the organization. Several of its leaders, including Dr Mahrang and many other women, have been in jail for over a fortnight now. The parents of some BYC activists have been abducted and being kept in custody by the Pakistani security forces.
In a statement released to the press, BYC said its leaders and members continue to remain firm in their ideological stance and national objectives despite what it described as “relentless state repression and brutality” from Pakistan Army, intelligence agencies and “death squads’’. The group claimed that for the past 20 days, the Baloch population has been actively protesting, and this period has become a testament to the community’s collective resilience and unity.
“The Baloch nation has shown exemplary unity during this difficult and sensitive time,” the statement read. “Resistance against state oppression is being carried out in an organized and disciplined manner.”
The BYC has asked all of its regional zones to begin preparations for the April 13 protests and to ensure that the demonstrations are carried out in a well-coordinated and strategic fashion. It said that these protests organised simultaneously all over Balochistan will challenge the ongoing suppression in a significant way. The unity showed by the Baloch community on this occasion will also reinforce the people’s commitment to democratic resistance.
The committee strongly condemned what it termed as “state fascism and savagery,” declaring that no level of coercion could shake the ideological foundations or morale of BYC’s leadership and cadre. “We will counter this brutality through the power of people’s resistance,” the statement added. “We firmly believe that this oppressive system can and will be defeated by public strength.”
Meanwhile, another organisation fighting for the rights of the Baloch community, the Baloch National Movement (BNM), commemorated the “Murgaap incident’’ by calling it a pivotal moment in the national struggle. It has claimed that sacrifices of BNM leaders Ghulam Muhammad Baloch, Lala Munir Baloch, and Sher Muhammad Baloch thwarted enemy plans, exposed defectors aligned with state interests, and injected new life and direction into the Baloch liberation movement.
It needs to be mentioned here that in these three BNM leaders were forcibly abducted by Pakistani security forces on April 3, 2009, and there mutilated bodies were dumped on the roadside on April 9, a week later in Murgaap, near Turbat. During the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) rule way back in 2009, this was a watershed moment, the beginning of organised state repression against the Baloch community. Incidentally, it is the PPP which rules Balochistan province again today and the same unending cycle of enforced disappearances continues to date, according to The Balochistan Post.
Speaking at a central ceremony marking the anniversary, BNM Chairman Dr Naseem Baloch said that the Baloch nation has endured 77 years of what he termed as “colonial domination” under Pakistan, facing systematic “repression” across three generations. He said these decades of resistance have produced politically mature and ideologically grounded cadres. The parties in power in Balochistan changed but the state’s repressive methods against peaceful Baloch people have not changed, he said.
“Murgaap incident gave a new direction to the Baloch national movement,” Dr Naseem said. “The sacrifices of our martyrs exposed not only the intentions of the enemy but also unmasked those within our ranks who betrayed the cause.”Alongside the main event, regional commemorations were held by BNM local units in Awaran and Gwadar. BNM’s top leadership including Vice Chairman Babul Latif, Secretary General Dil Murad Baloch, Information Secretary Qazi Dad Mohammad Rehan, Finance Secretary Nasir Baloch, and Central Committee members Chief Aslam Baloch, Mahganj Baloch, Talar Naaz, and Zeeshan Manan addressed the gatherings.
Leaders harshly criticized what they called state-sponsored fragmentation of the movement, pointing specifically to the emergence of the Balochistan National Democratic Party (BNDP), which they said mirrored the more recent state-backed Balochistan Awami Party (BAP). They accused some former comrades of abandoning the national cause for political opportunism under state protection.
The legacy of Ghulam Mohammad Baloch was emphasized as central to resisting such deviations. BNM leaders said he opposed internal conspiracies at a time when the party’s structure was under threat, and that he inspired his fellow activists not to give in to fear or compromise. His decisions, they said, played a decisive role in defining the path of the movement.
