The report releasted last month documents “intimidation, harassment and persecution” of human rights defenders, along with restrictions on protests and the use of counter-terrorism and digital laws to criminalise dissent. It rates Pakistan’s civic space as “repressed,” the second-worst category, citing a pattern of escalating state controls on expression and assembly.

“Since coming to power, the Shehbaz Sharif government has escalated its repression of activists… silencing critical voices,” said Josef Benedict, an Asia researcher at CIVICUS, calling on authorities to “reverse course” and protect fundamental rights.

The report highlights arrests, legal cases and surveillance targeting prominent activists and lawyers, as well as a broader clampdown on ethnic Baloch and Pashtun movements demanding accountability for enforced disappearances. It also documents increasing use of laws such as the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act to pursue online critics and block digital content.

Journalists have faced mounting pressure, including arrests, investigations and alleged attacks, contributing to what CIVICUS described as a “chilling effect” on media freedom. Protest restrictions have also intensified, with authorities frequently imposing blanket bans and using force to disperse demonstrations, per the report.

The findings come against the backdrop of political tensions following Pakistan’s 2024 elections, which the report says were marked by restrictions on opposition activities and media coverage. Despite these concerns, the country was elected to the UN Human Rights Council for a three-year term earlier this year.

CIVICUS said the situation runs counter to Pakistan’s obligations under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which guarantees freedoms of expression, association and peaceful assembly.

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A fact-finding mission by the HRCP released its findings in a report Wednesday, saying that the province is facing a “shrinking civic space, erosion of provincial autonomy and unchecked impunity.”

According to the HRCP, enforced disappearances have continued in the province. It added that civic space is rapidly diminishing, provincial autonomy is being eroded, and public trust is plummeting under unchecked repression.

“The mission’s findings reveal a disturbing pattern of continued enforced disappearances, shrinking civic space, erosion of provincial autonomy and unchecked impunity—conditions that continue to fuel public alienation and political instability,” noted the report.

The HRCP warned that unless Pakistan abandons coercive methods and embraces a political, rights-based resolution, Balochistan could spiral further into instability — with implications extending far beyond the province’s borders.

Civil society activists, particularly groups like the Baloch Yakjehti Committee (BYC), are being targeted under terrorism allegations in the province.

HRCP warned this crackdown has “only deepened alienation, especially among the youth,” and demanded legal recognition and protection for activists.

Activism in the province remains dangerously suppressed. Mahrang Baloch, a prominent rights advocate, has been jailed since March. Writing from prison, she denounced the misuse of counter-terror laws to stifle peaceful dissent and highlighted how Baloch communities have long been denied fairness in resource distribution.

Earlier this month, a 7-year-old boy in Balochistan who was accused of sharing an activist’s speech online was booked on terrorism charges — drawing widespread condemnation of criminalizing minors.

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The campaign, known locally as the “Free Imran Khan” movement, officially began on Tuesday, marking the second anniversary of his incarceration over a £190 million corruption conviction tied to state gifts.

In the eastern city of Lahore, Punjab province’s capital, police detained more than 30 activists from Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party seeking to block roads as part of the movement’s launch. This was part of a broader allegation by the PTI that over 200 raids were conducted across Punjab in the days leading up to the protests, with worker homes targeted in an apparent effort to suppress mobilization.

Rehana Dar, a senior PTI figure and former election candidate, was filmed being forcibly boarded into a police van by riot-trained officers — a move that the party condemned as humiliating, especially given her age.

Law enforcement officials say the detentions were limited to a few dozen individuals attempting to obstruct traffic.

The PTI called on loyalists to continue nationwide protests, indicating that August 5 was only the starting point, not a concluding call to action.

In July, anti-terrorism courts in Pakistan sentenced more than 100 PTI members, including high-ranking leaders like Omar Ayub Khan and Shibli Faraz, to up to 10 years’ imprisonment on charges connected to the May 2023 riots.

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Organizations like the Tehrik-i-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) have a history of hijacking public sentiment and transforming peaceful protests into violent demonstrations. Their methods often involve intimidation, property damage, and even physical violence. When activists and celebrities call for boycotts without fully considering this context, they inadvertently create a fertile ground for these groups to operate.

The recent attacks on KFC outlets in Pakistan on allegations the food chain has ties to Israel serve as a stark example of this dynamic. One KFC worker lost his life in a mob attack in the outskirts of Lahore last month and at least 11 incidents of arson targeting KFC outlets were reported in various cities. While the initial calls for boycott may have been intended to be non-violent, the subsequent actions demonstrate how quickly such movements can be co-opted by those with a more radical agenda. Such incidents are a chilling reminder that in Pakistan’s volatile landscape, even seemingly innocuous calls to action can be twisted into justification for violence and unrest.

Therefore, it is crucial for those advocating for boycotts to exercise extreme caution. While their intentions may be noble, they must acknowledge the very real risk that their words can be weaponized by extremist elements. Instead of broad, potentially inflammatory calls that can be easily manipulated, perhaps focusing on more targeted and strategically sound approaches would be more effective and less likely to endanger public safety.

For instance, Pakistan has the option to utilize international platforms such as the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) to seek justice for the Palestinian people.

The pursuit of justice abroad should not come at the cost of peace and security at home.

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These executions took place in sports stadiums across three different provinces. The total number of public executions since 2021 now stands at 10, per AFP.

In a statement, Amnesty International condemned the executions.

“The Taliban de facto authorities continue to flagrantly flout human rights principles with complete disregard for international human rights law. We oppose all executions as a violation of the right to life,” it said.

“Carrying out executions in public adds to the inherent cruelty of the death penalty and can only have a dehumanizing effect on the victim and a brutalizing effect on those who witness the executions,” the statement added.

Amnesty International called on the international community to put pressure on the Taliban “to end this blatant human rights violation and help ensure that international safeguards are respected in Afghanistan.”

The executed individuals were “sentenced to retaliatory punishment” for allegedly shooting other men. The Afghan Supreme Court said their cases were “examined very precisely and repeatedly,” but human rights groups have raised concerns that trials under the Taliban are not fair.

“The families of the victims turned down the opportunity to offer the men amnesty,” per the Supreme Court.

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In the letter shared by the BYC, she stated that she and other arrested activists are being deliberately kept in the dark about the situation in Balochistan, as they are given newspapers that are two days old.

“The state and its so-called democratic institutions are propagating against us with the state’s false narrative,” she wrote.

Baloch recently gained international recognition after leading a series of protests against enforced disappearances and extrajudicial killings in Pakistan’s volatile Balochistan province.

She mentioned in the letter that the jail in which she is being held is the same prison where her father, who was extrajudicially killed in 2011, spent three years in imprisonment. “I am grateful to the state for choosing Hudda Jail for my detention. This place was the center of my suffering.”

“I wished I could live in the solitary confinement where my father spent three years of his imprisonment,” Baloch wrote.

“It has been my life’s desire to go to the place where my father was kept and where he was tortured. I wanted to experience that last moment, which was his last moment,” she added.

The activist stated that the movement she is leading is aimed at “rebuilding” homes that were destroyed by the state.

Baloch further said that the state is conducting propaganda against them with the help of “intellectuals and journalists,” adding, “We will face every oppression and lie of the state with courage, determination, and organized struggle.”

“The state that is throwing down bodies is facing a courageous nation,” she added.

Last Friday, the nationalist Balochistan National Party (BNP) began a “long march” from Wadh to Quetta to protest the detentions of BYC leaders and activists, including Mahrang Baloch and Sammi Deen Baloch, as well as the police’s response to their sit-in in Quetta.

Sammi Deen Baloch was released on Tuesday.

On Thursday in Mastung, party leader Sardar Akhtar Mengal presented three demands during the protest.

“Either release all BYC prisoners, including women, or allow us to peacefully march to Quetta for a sit-in. If not, then arrest us,” Mengal stated.

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The judge ruled in the verdict that consent must be free and voluntary and that “mere submission” due to fear or coercion does not constitute consent.

“Mere submission in consequence of force or threats is not consent,” the verdict said. “The relevant time for consent is the time when sexual intercourse occurs. Consent, previously given, may be withdrawn, thereby rendering the act nonconsensual,” it added.

The judge ruled that delays in reporting rape should not undermine the credibility of the complaint, saying that victims often face social stigma when they decide to report the crime.

“In view of such prevalent social ethos, delay in reporting such crime cannot be seen as irrational human reaction to a grisly act,” the judge said in the verdict.

The judgment mentioned a report issued by the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan in 2020, which said that only around 20 percent of rape cases in Pakistan are reported. “The aforementioned statistics rationalize the manner in which delay is dealt with by Courts in rape cases,” the judgment said.

Further, the verdict said a sole testimony from the rape survivor should be sufficient unless there are reasons to doubt it. It cited a 2010 verdict of the Supreme Court that had said, “The determination of reliability of the testimony of a sole witness or a victim is to be made on a holistic view of the facts of the case and that prior enmity between the complainant and accused was an exception to the rule that solitary statement is sufficient for conviction.”

“It was held that, ‘[i]f on account of totality of facts the Court is of the view that such statement should not be believed and for that good reasons are assigned it cannot be set that any illegality has been committed by the Court in this behalf…the sole testimony view, should be applied with due care and caution in the cases where there is backdrop of grudge, rift and tiff between the parties.’,” Justice Sattar noted in the verdict.

The judgement also noted that rape is a crime “that is usually committed in private, and there is hardly any witness to provide direct evidence of having seen the commission of a crime by the accused person.”

“The courts, therefore, do not insist upon producing direct evidence to corroborate the testimony of the victim if the same is found to be confidence-inspiring,” said the verdict.

The man in question was sentenced by a trial court to 14 years in prison after being convicted of raping and impregnating a 20-year-old woman who was his neighbor. The victim, who became pregnant after the crime, reported the rape 18 months later, during which time the families of both the victim and the convict unsuccessfully tried to reach a settlement.

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These mass arrests took place last Friday when a mob of religious extremists gathered outside the place of worship, chanting inflammatory slogans.

In response to fears of potential violence, members of the Ahmadi community reached out to the police emergency line for assistance. However, instead of dispersing the threatening crowd, law enforcement officials arrested 22 Ahmadis, transported them to the City Police Station in Daska.

Following the arrests, extremists gathered outside the police station, demanding that criminal charges be filed against the detainees. Yielding to the pressure from these groups, authorities subsequently registered formal charges against the arrested Ahmadi citizens.

In a similar incident last week, 23 Ahmadis had criminal charges registered against them in the Sargodha district for gathering at a community space to offer Friday prayers.

Amir Mahmood, a spokesperson for the Ahmadi community in Pakistan, said the situation for the community has become “grave” and that they are being stopped from praying even within the boundaries of four walls.

Pakistan’s law bars Ahmadis from calling themselves Muslims, and extremist groups have relied on the legislation to justify attacks targeting the community. They vandalize Ahmadi worship places arguing that they look like mosques. Ahmadi tombstones carrying Islamic terms or titles are also often a target.

A judgement of the Supreme Court authored by Justice Mansoor Ali Shah in 2022 had asked the authorities not to stop Ahmadi citizens from practicing their faith within the four walls of their homes and worship places. The SC had held that the act of depriving non-Muslims of holding their religious beliefs was “against the grain of our democratic Constitution”.

“To deprive a non-Muslim (minority) of our country from holding his religious beliefs, to obstruct him from professing and practicing his religion within the four walls of his place of worship is against the grain of our democratic Constitution and repugnant to the spirit and character of our Islamic Republic,” stated a nine-page verdict, authored by SC judge Justice Syed Mansoor Ali Shah in 2022.

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Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) had supported the legislation, but its own leader, Raza Rabbani, has come out against the bill. He issued a statement on Friday, saying, “This bill will further undermine freedom of expression by establishing authorities that operate under executive control.”

The controversial bill suggests adding a new provision, Section 26(A), to the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act (PECA). This addition is aimed at penalizing those responsible for spreading “fake news” online.

It states: “Anyone who intentionally distributes, publicly displays, or transmits information through any information system that they know or have reason to believe is false or misleading, and is likely to instill fear, panic, disorder, or unrest in the general public or society, shall face punishment of imprisonment for up to three years, a fine of up to Rs2 million, or both.”

Digital rights activists say it would be used to arbitarily clamp down on free expression on online platforms.

Rabbani said the bill would empower the executive not only to control the content of messages but also to regulate those who manage social media platforms.

“Joint Investigation Teams including members of unnamed intelligence agencies will be formed to watch over journalists, social media and the general public,” he warned.

Rabbani stated the government failed to take the relevant stakeholders in confidence before the passage of the bill. “In fact, it breached its commitments with various elected journalist bodies for consultation,” he said in the statement.

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