Islamabad: Families of detained Baloch Yakjehti Committee (BYC) leaders and relatives of victims of enforced disappearances have launched a sit-in protest outside the National Press Club in Islamabad, calling for the immediate release of all arrested activists and an end to enforced disappearances, The Balochistan Post reported.
The protest, which began earlier this week, includes relatives of BYC leaders who have been in detention for over three months, alongside long-suffering families of missing persons. Many of them have spent years campaigning for justice and the safe return of their loved ones, often without response or resolution.
Speaking at a press conference at the protest site, participants said they had returned to the capital in the hope their voices would finally be heard. “In Balochistan, our pleas are suppressed on our own soil. Media censorship is rampant, and the truth is being silenced,” one protester told The Balochistan Post.
They described Balochistan as an “information black hole,” where dissent is systematically silenced and only state-sanctioned narratives are allowed. “Voices raised against injustice are crushed,” they said.
Protesters also accused state institutions of promoting a misleading image of peace in Balochistan, while the reality on the ground remains marked by repression, forced disappearances, and political harassment.
They pointed to the arrests of prominent BYC and human rights activists — including Dr. Mahrang Baloch, Beebarg Zehri, Beebow Baloch, Gulzadi Baloch, Shah Jee Sibghatullah, Ghaffar Qambarani, and Imran Baloch — describing the move as part of a targeted crackdown following a March 19 press conference in Quetta. Despite court orders for their release, the activists were held under the colonial-era 3-MPO law and later shifted to anti-terrorism custody on July 8 under new charges.
The protestors issued two main demands: the immediate release of all detained Baloch political figures and an end to the ongoing cycle of enforced disappearances and arbitrary arrests in Balochistan.
They also called on Pakistani media, civil society, legal professionals, and international human rights organisations to raise their voices in solidarity, The Balochistan Post reported.
