Pakistan’s War on Balochistan Has Reached a Point of No Return – The Diplomat

Balochistan is burning once again. The Pakistani state, long accused of waging a silent war against the Baloch people, has unleashed an unprecedented wave of brutality against unarmed protesters. In Quetta, Turbat, Panjgur, and beyond, Pakistan’s security forces have turned peaceful demonstrations into bloodbaths, indiscriminately killing, arresting, and disappearing activists.

This state-led terror also came for Dr. Mahrang Baloch, a prominent human rights defender and leader of the Baloch Yakjehti Committee (BYC). On March 22, she was violently arrested during a pre-dawn raid on a peaceful sit-in. Her only crime was demanding the release of forcibly disappeared persons. In a move that reeks of state-sponsored deception, she is now being falsely charged with terrorism, sedition, and even murder– a cruel irony, given that it was the Pakistani police who shot and killed three unarmed Baloch protesters.

Her arrest is not just an attack on an individual; it is an attack on an entire movement. It is a desperate attempt by the Pakistani state to criminalize Baloch activism and suppress the growing resistance against state oppression. But as history has shown, repression only fuels the fire.

Dr. Mahrang Baloch (left, in black) attends a sit-in with the bodies of demonstrators killed by police in Quetta, Balochistan, Mar. 22, 2025. Photo by special arrangement.

Quetta: A City Under Siege

On March 21, thousands of Baloch protesters gathered in Quetta to demand the release of Bebarg Zehri, Dr. Hammal Baloch, Dr Ilyas Baloch, and other victims of enforced disappearances. The state’s response was swift and ruthless: police opened fire, killing three protesters on the spot, including a 12-year-old boy. Dozens were injured, yet ambulances were deliberately blocked from reaching the wounded.

The situation escalated on March 22, when the BYC staged a sit-in with the bodies of the slain protesters at Saryab Road. Just before dawn, Pakistani security forces stormed the protest camp, arrested dozens, and forcefully seized the dead bodies. Among those arrested was Dr. Mahrang Baloch, who was dragged away alongside her sister and fellow activists. Their whereabouts remain unknown.

As if the crackdown wasn’t enough, Pakistan imposed a total communication blackout across Quetta. Internet services and mobile networks were shut down, preventing any documentation of the ongoing violence. The goal was clear: to erase evidence of the state’s crimes and silence the voices of the oppressed. This is not just state repression. This is an act of war.

The Fabrication of Terror Charges

The Pakistani state has now escalated its crackdown by filing bogus terrorism and murder charges against Dr. Mahrang Baloch and other BYC leaders. In a grim display of authoritarianism, the very activists who were peacefully protesting against enforced disappearances are now being labeled as “terrorists” and “murderers.”

Mahrang has been charged with terrorism, sedition, and murder under the draconian Maintenance of Public Order (MPO) Ordinance, 1960, section 3 (3MPO), which permits preventative detention in the name of “maintenance of public order.” To make matters worse, she has been sentenced to a month in jail – an attempt to break the spirit of the BYC movement and discourage further activism.

The FIRs filed against the BYC claim that Dr. Mahrang and others led an armed mob that fired at security forces. This is a blatant lie. Video evidence and eyewitness reports confirm that only the police fired live rounds at unarmed protesters. Yet, instead of holding security forces accountable for the murders, the Pakistani state has criminalized the victims.

This is not an isolated tactic. Pakistan has a long history of blaming peaceful activists for state-led violence. By branding human rights defenders as terrorists, the government seeks to justify more crackdowns, mass arrests, and enforced disappearances.

The international community must not fall for this deception. These charges are not about justice – they are about silencing dissent.

A Nationwide Uprising: Protests Erupt Across Pakistan

Despite the brutal repression, the Baloch resistance is not backing down. The arrest of Dr. Mahrang and the mass killings in Quetta have triggered widespread protests across Balochistan and beyond.

Demonstrations have erupted in Turbat, Panjgur, Khuzdar, Dalbandin, Mastung, Noshki, Naseerabad, and in other regions of Balochistan, where protesters are demanding the immediate release of detained activists and an end to state violence. In Karachi and even Islamabad, students, activists, and members of civil society are speaking out and doing protests and demonstrations. 

The situation in Panjgur escalated when security forces opened fire on protesters again, injuring multiple people. In Lasbela, the police attacked a BYC protest camp with tear gas and live ammunition. The crackdown is no longer just confined to a few regions – Pakistan has turned the entire Balochistan province into a war zone.

Pakistan’s government is miscalculating if it believes that mass arrests and murder will stop the Baloch resistance. For decades, Pakistan has underestimated the resilience of the Baloch people, and today, it is witnessing an unprecedented uprising.

A Colonial War Against Balochistan

The events of March 21-23 are not isolated incidents. They are part of a decades-long war that Pakistan has waged against Balochistan.

For years, the Pakistani state has treated Balochistan as a colony, exploiting its gold, gas, and coastline while systematically eliminating its people. Enforced disappearances, extrajudicial killings, and mass graves have become the norm. The burial of 13 unidentified bodies in Quetta’s Kasi graveyard days before the protests, without any identification or investigation, is just another reminder of Pakistan’s policy of state-led genocide.

But this war is no longer confined to rural Balochistan. With each passing day, the Pakistani state is bringing its violence into urban centers, targeting students, women, and human rights defenders. The surge in brutality is Pakistan’s way of coping with the embarrassment of back-to-back major attacks staged by the Baloch Liberation Army (BLA), after which the authorities pledged a merciless “sanitization operation.”

The arrest of Dr. Mahrang Baloch proves that Pakistan is now willing to label even non-violent activists as “terrorists” in its desperation. 

The International Community Must Intervene

Pakistan’s war crimes in Balochistan are no longer a regional issue – they are a global human rights emergency.

The international community can no longer afford to turn a blind eye to Pakistan’s atrocities. Amnesty International and Front Line Defenders have already condemned the violence, but statements are not enough. The world must act.

The United Nations, the European Union, the United States, and international human rights organizations must demand the immediate release of Dr. Mahrang Baloch and all detained protesters. They must send independent observers to Balochistan to document Pakistan’s war crimes. They must hold Pakistan accountable at the United Nations and impose sanctions on military officials involved in human rights violations. Most importantly, they must break Pakistan’s information blockade by ensuring international media coverage of the crisis.

Pakistan’s reckless use of force against peaceful protesters, its false labeling of activists as terrorists, and its reliance on mass killings to silence dissent are clear violations of international law. If left unchecked, this state-sponsored violence will only escalate.

Balochistan Will Not Surrender

Pakistan is using every weapon in its arsenal to crush the Baloch movement: bullets, enforced disappearances, digital blackouts, and fabricated terrorism charges. But repression has never defeated resistance.

The Baloch people have withstood genocide for decades. They have lost thousands to enforced disappearances, seen their villages burned, and their activists jailed. Yet, they continue to resist.

Pakistan has taken its brutality to a new level, in a move that is sure to backfire. Because history is clear – no empire lasts forever.