The Baloch Yakjehti Committee (BYC) has called for a complete shutter-down strike across Balochistan on Wednesday, June 24, against the life sentences handed to Dr Mahrang Baloch and Sibghatullah Shahji. The Pashtun Tahafuz Movement (PTM) has announced full support for the protest.
In a statement, the BYC appealed to traders, transporters, students, political workers and the wider Baloch public to participate in the strike and “raise their collective voice against injustice”, according to The Balochistan Post. The protest strike is likely to paralyse Balochistan as conditions have been deteriorating there for a long time.
An anti-terrorism court in Quetta on Monday sentenced Dr Mahrang, the BYC’s chief organiser, and central leader Sibghatullah Shahji to life imprisonment. The verdict was announced in a case pertaining to the death of a Frontier Corps (FC) official who had sustained fatal injuries during stone-pelting at a 2024 protest in Gwadar.
The two leaders, other detained BYC members and their lawyers had boycotted the proceedings over what they described as a “faceless trial” held inside Quetta jail. The court had offered to appoint lawyers for those accused in the trial but the denial of lawyers of their own choice had led to the boycott of its offer.
Pashtun Tahafuz Movement Supports Strike
In a central statement, the PTM rejected the case and the sentences, saying the ruling had exposed what it described as the dirty role of the judiciary within Pakistan’s state structure. The group said the justice system had historically been used “to crush the political resistance of oppressed nations”, adding that the law had been subordinated to the interests of state institutions and turned into an instrument for controlling Baloch and Pashtun political movements.
According to the PTM, the proceedings against the BYC leaders failed to meet the requirements of a fair trial, independent legal defence and an impartial judicial process. It said life sentences had been imposed in cases arising from the “Baloch Raaji Muchi”, while no case had been registered over the deaths of three Baloch protesters during the gathering.
“On the one hand, life sentences are being handed down in false cases against the Baloch Yakjehti Committee arising from the Raaji Muchi gathering. On the other, not a single case has been registered over the three Baloch youths who were martyred by state personnel during the same gathering,” the PTM said.
The PTM statement also questioned accountability for enforced disappearances, extrajudicial killings and military operations in Baloch and Pashtun areas, asking: “In which court are cases concerning state violence and oppression heard?”
The PTM said the ruling was not directed only against individual BYC leaders, but represented “a clear message” to political voices demanding national rights and resisting state repression.
Militarisation, Repression, Unjust Decision
It added that political resistance in Baloch and Pashtun regions was routinely portrayed as a “security problem”. All who expressed any dissent and political workers who demanded rights were criminalised through what it described as a broader process of repression and militarisation.
PTM said prisons, sentences and state repression had never been able to extinguish political resistance, reaffirming its support for Wednesday’s strike. “We completely reject this unjust decision and express full solidarity with the Baloch people and all political prisoners of the Baloch Yakjehti Committee,” the PTM said.
Incidentally, Dr Mahrang’s only “crime” has been demanding basic human rights, and her struggle has remained centred on peaceful protests, long marches and demands for accountability over enforced disappearances. Dr Mahrang has never ever carried a weapon but potent weapons she wields were peaceful protests, long marches, and an undeniable truth. BYC activists have accused the Pakistani state of criminalising dissent and using anti-terrorism laws to imprison peaceful activists and portray them as enemies of the state.
“When bullets, threats, and enforced disappearances fail to break the resolve of human rights defenders, the state resorts to judicial terrorism,” they said. The closed prison proceedings had removed transparency and denied the accused the right to a fair and open defence, and the trial was “a predetermined set-up, designed not to serve justice, but to execute political vengeance”.
The life imprisonment sentences were intended to “instil fear and paralyse a generation” that had spoken out against decades of exploitation and brutality. The ruling was “an assault on the very soul of Balochistan and its struggle for dignity”.
Narges Foundation Condemns Fabricated Charges
In a separate joint statement, PEN Norway and the Narges Foundation, run by Iranian Nobel Peace Prize laureate Narges Mohammadi, expressed “deep concern” over the convictions, saying the use of closed prison proceedings and video-link hearings raised serious questions over judicial transparency, due process and compliance with domestic and international fair-trial standards.
The statement said such proceedings “undermine confidence in judicial independence, accountability, and the right to a fair and public hearing.” They said they had followed Dr Mahrang’s case since her arrest in March 2025, adding that PEN Norway had previously raised concerns with Pakistan’s ambassador to Norway over her detention and the broader restrictions faced by Baloch human rights defenders.
The organisations called on Pakistani authorities to immediately and unconditionally release Dr Mahrang and other detained BYC activists and quash the convictions against her and Sibghatullah Shahji.
They also urged the authorities to end what they described as a crackdown on civil society, the arbitrary detention of human rights defenders and the criminalisation of peaceful activism. “Stand with Dr Mahrang Baloch. Stand with the BYC,” she said.
Urging the international community to demand an end to secret trials, the foundation asked for withdrawal of fabricated charges and the release of the detained activists. “Silence is complicity.”
