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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Footage and reports from the scene show leaders of Ahle Sunnat Wal Jamaat (ASWJ –widely understood as the rebranded form of the banned Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistan (SSP) – delivering hard-line speeches in the afternoon just before the blast. The event included rhetoric targeting Shia beliefs and identity. While the rally itself did not turn violent, its timing and message have intensified scrutiny of the sectarian undercurrents that afflict Pakistan.

Who Are ASWJ/SSP?

ASWJ traces its roots directly to Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistan, a Sunni extremist organization founded in the 1980s with an explicitly anti-Shia agenda. SSP was outlawed in 2002, but has continually resurfaced under new names, including ASWJ, allowing its activists and leaders to operate in public political and religious spaces.

Human rights reports and country analyses also document widespread incitement of hatred and violence against Shia Muslims by extremist clerics and groups in Pakistan, with rhetoric tolerated across many regions even when overt violence declines.

A history of anti-Shia violence

Shia Muslims – a minority in predominantly Sunni Pakistan – have been recurrent targets of sectarian violence over decades. Studies and historical records show thousands of Shias killed in militant attacks by groups that include violent offshoots of Sipah-e-Sahaba, Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), and Islamic State affiliates. These groups have on several occasions vowed to “rid Pakistan of Shias.”

Notable historical instances include the 1963 Therhi massacre in Sindh, where more than a hundred Shias were killed in a sectarian attack, and the 1988 Gilgit massacre, in which estimates place Shia fatalities in the hundreds amid targeted violence. Mass bombings in Quetta’s Shia-dominated neighborhoods and targeted killings also claimed hundreds of lives from 2010-2013.

More recently, a mass shooting ambush on a convoy of Shia travellers in Kurram District in late 2024 killed at least 54 people — one of the deadliest sectarian assaults in years.

These attacks are part of a long pattern of sectarian militancy in Pakistan, where extremist groups have periodically targeted Shias during worship, pilgrimage or travel.

Pakistan blames the “foreign hand”

In the aftermath of Friday’s Islamabad blast, Pakistani authorities have placed strong emphasis on foreign involvement in the attack.

Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi said investigators had identified suspects with links to militants in Afghanistan and alleged support from foreign actors, including India – claims that Indian officials have called “baseless and pointless.”

The Islamic State’s Pakistan affiliate has also claimed responsibility for the bombing, underscoring the role of transnational extremist networks in attacking Shia targets.

However, critics argue that focusing on external blame may obscure the deep-rooted history of sectarian hatred and organized anti-Shia activity inside Pakistan, including groups like ASWJ/SSP whose rhetoric and mobilisation have helped normalise social hostility toward religious minorities.

Civil society advocates warn that without confronting these internal dynamics – including public hate speech and the continued operation of sectarian networks – Pakistan’s recurring cycles of violence against Shias will persist alongside any foreign threats.

Fariha Ijaz

The writer is an Assistant Editor at Dissent Today, focusing on extremism and political violence.

The post Overlooking Homegrown Hate, Pakistan Hesitates to Call Islamabad Blast Anti-Shia Violence appeared first on Dissent Today.

Islamabad – Shafiullah Jan, special assistant to the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) chief minister, appeared to refuse to categorically label the banned Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) a “terrorist organization” in an interview with a national news anchor last week – drawing sharp criticism from opponents, activists and media commentators.

At a press appearance this week, federal Information Minister Attaullah Tarar played a video clip in which Jan was asked whether the outlawed TTP is a terrorist group. Jan declined to give an unequivocal “yes,” saying “there are groups within the TTP and those who are against the state are terrorists.”

The federal minister seized on the remarks, accusing Jan and the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) of soft-pedaling Pakistan’s insurgent threat and extended an “olive branch” to militants.

“The spokespersons of the political party are afraid of talking about the terrorist group,” Tarar said, claiming that PTI leaders fear being attacked by the TTP and therefore won’t condemn them outright.

The comments reignited long-standing debates in Pakistan about counterterrorism, messaging and political strategy — and drawn fire on social media from journalists and activists.

“Inexcusable behavior. You cannot complain or clutch pearls about being smeared as terror sympathizers when your own government’s spokesman can’t muster the bare bones clarity or spine to call the mass murdering butchers of TTP a terrorist group,” wrote activist Ammar Rashid on X.

Raza Haroon, a former provincial minister, wrote: “#PTI appears visibly confused and lacking clarity. Today, the party’s Secretary General, @salmanAraja, categorically acknowledged the #TTP as a terrorist organisation, ironically on the same show..”, adding, “This only exposes the party’s persistent policy incoherence and internal contradictions.”

Some commentators also mentioned older controversies around incarcerated former premier Imran Khan’s statements on militant figures.

In June 2020, Khan drew international and domestic rebuke when he used the Urdu word “shaheed” (martyr) to describe slain Osama bin Laden during a National Assembly speech – language critics said blurred the line between strategic critique of U.S. foreign policy and reverence for a globally designated terrorist.

Opposition leaders at the time said bin Laden was “a terrorist through and through,” pointing to the attacks he orchestrated at home and abroad, including against Pakistani citizens, and questioning the prime minister’s choice of words.

The TTP has been proscribed in Pakistan for years and is widely accused of orchestrating deadly attacks across the country, particularly in the north-west.

Against that backdrop, critics argue that any ambiguity in public rhetoric undermines counterterrorism efforts and emboldens extremist narratives.

Political rhetoric that fails to clearly denounce militant groups like the TTP is problematic because it dilutes public understanding of the threat the group poses and weakens a unified national response to ongoing violence, including numerous recent attacks the TTP has carried out in Pakistan.

Ambiguous language from political figures, especially when they avoid plainly calling an active militant group a terrorist organization, can create confusion among citizens about who is a threat and why, making it harder to sustain broad support for the hard security and legal measures needed to counter the challenge, especially given that there has been a resurgence of the TTP threat recently.

Analysts and security experts have noted that shifting or evasive narratives around the TTP have left the Pakistani public “poorly informed and confused about the nature of the threat,” and have at times emboldened the insurgents by suggesting there might be political space for negotiation without accountability, a distinction crucial for effective counterterrorism policy and public resilience.

This ambiguity also has real implications for national cohesion and counterterror strategy. When elected officials hedge on defining terrorism, it can erode confidence in government commitment to security policy, weaken cross-party cooperation on counterterrorism, and even be exploited by militants in their propaganda, which actively seeks to shape narratives in their favor.

Such rhetoric risks normalizing extremist violence in public discourse and undermines long-standing frameworks like Pakistan’s National Action Plan, which was built on broad consensus to crack down on terrorism and eliminate proscribed organizations.

Fariha Ijaz

The writer is an Assistant Editor at Dissent Today, focusing on extremism and political violence.

The post PTI’s Ambiguous Rhetoric on Taliban Is Dangerous for Pakistan’s Counter-Extremism Efforts appeared first on Dissent Today.

ISLAMABAD – Militants in Pakistan’s volatile Waziristan region have escalated attacks on educational institutions just days before the end of 2025.

On Thursday, unidentified assailants detonated explosives at the Government Primary School in the Khushhali area of Ayaz Kot village in North Waziristan. According to reports, the attack obliterated much of the building and left more than 600 students without a classroom.

No group has claimed responsibility so far.

The attack follows a broader pattern of violence in the former tribal district, where armed groups have targeted schools amid a rise in terror attacks.

In December of last year, the United Nations special rapporteurs wrote a letter to the government of Pakistan, voicing their concerns over militant assaults on girls’ schools in the country.

In the letter, Farida Shaheed, special rapporteur on the right to education; Reem Alsalem, special rapporteur on violence against women and girls; and Laura Nyirinkindi, chair-rapporteur of the Working Group on discrimination against women and girls, called on the government of Pakistan to protect the fundamental right of women and girls to receive a safe and secure education.

“We are troubled by the persistent terrorist attacks targeting girls’ schools by groups opposing the education of women and girls. While all attacks on schools are reprehensible, those specifically aimed at girls’ institutions discourage women and girls from pursuing education, thereby reinforcing discrimination and societal inequalities,” the letter read.

Further, they requested information from the government regarding the investigations and actions being taken to safeguard girls’ schools in Waziristan.

Militants have bombed or burned girls’ schools in both North and South Waziristan, often citing opposition to female education.

Parents and rights advocates say the latest school bombing undermines efforts to expand schooling in a region where access to education, especially for girls, remains limited.

“This school was the only beacon of hope for our children,” one local elder was quoted as saying by Dawn, lamenting how the blast threatens young students’ futures.

Security challenges persist across Pakistan’s northwest, with Pakistani forces conducting counter-terror operations even as violence affects civilian life.

The rise in school attacks adds to mounting concerns about safety and the ability of the state to protect basic services in former conflict zones. Observers note that attacks on schools resonate widely in Pakistan, evoking memories of past high-profile assaults on educational institutions by extremists.

Fariha Ijaz

The writer is an Assistant Editor at Dissent Today, focusing on extremism and political violence.

The post 600 Students Affected As Blast Destroys Government School in Waziristan appeared first on Dissent Today.

Tirah Valley, Pakistan – After three months of fighting for her life, five-year-old Aliya died on October 8 — the innocent casualty of a summer drone strike that shattered her quiet village in Pakistan’s troubled Tirah Valley. She was the youngest of six children of Adnan, a 35-year-old tractor driver.

On July 19, she and a group of children were playing in the sunshine when the drone strike took place. A single shot to her head left her unconscious and paralyzed, and several classmates wounded.

Since that day, Adnan poured 800,000 PKR (about $2830) into medical care, sinking deeper into debt without even fully knowing the sum.

“I don’t know how much more I will spend on my child,” he had told Dissent Today just days before his daughter’s death.

Until the very end, Adnan clung to hope. “Even if no one helps us, I want to see my daughter walk and smile again,” he said.

“I will do whatever I can so she can play and talk with us like before.”

But in the end, that hope slipped away.

The drone strike that killed Aliya in a small town in Pakistan’s restive northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province was part of Islamabad’s fresh counter-terrorism strategy under Operation Azm-e-Istehkam (literally, “Resolve for Stability”).

Launched in June 2024, this reinvigorated campaign includes frequent use of drone strikes – including both high-altitude drones and quad-copters — to carry out intelligence-led, precision strikes in the country’s border regions.

But drone warfare is not new here.

Since the early 2000s, the United States has carried out hundreds of drone strikes targeting militants, especially in the then-Federally Administered Tribal Areas (now merged into Khyber Pakhtunkhwa), often provoking debates about civilian harm and accountability.

The strikes, directed under various command structures including the CIA, left deep scars.

The first known drone strike in Pakistan took place on June 19, 2004. Over time, what began as periodic covert operations escalated into a prolonged campaign. Between the Bush and the first Trump presidencies, at least 414 strikes were documented, mostly under former U.S. President Barack Obama. Estimates place civilian deaths and injuries between 2,366 and 3,702.

Now, a new wave of drone strikes is once again claiming civilian lives — this time carried out not by the U.S., but by the Pakistani military, with little public debate.

Last Saturday, less than two months after Aliya’s death, another drone — a quadcopter — struck a wedding ceremony in the same Tirah Valley, injuring eight people, including children.

Lawmakers in Pakistan’s National Assembly strongly condemned the latest strike. Voices from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan called the drone attack an “insult” to the province and demanded a commission to investigate.

Human rights groups say the strikes, increasingly carried out using quadcopter and other UAVs, have killed scores of civilians.

In June, Amnesty International reported that at least 17 civilians, including five children, have died in these operations in 2025. Local protests erupted after a suspected quadcopter attack in South Waziristan killed a child and wounded others that month.

According to reports, both the military and militant groups are carrying out these strikes. The devices are used either for surgical, short-range attacks or to drop explosives on specific targets. Unlike earlier campaigns, the newer strikes are frequently occurring closer to densely populated civilian areas.

Local human rights activist Alamzeb Mahsood, who has been documenting these attacks, told Dissent Today that most civilian casualties result from military operations. He explained that militant groups usually know their own targets, but the military often struggles to locate them precisely — a failure that leads to the deaths of civilians, including women and children.

On the morning of October 23, a man and his daughter lost their lives in what appeared to be a quadcopter drone attack.

Earlier, on September 22, more than 20 civilians, including women and children, were killed in Tirah when bombs allegedly dropped by aircraft struck residential neighborhoods.

Security sources claimed the blast came from militants’ own stockpiles. However, local leaders and activists insisted it was a strike on unarmed civilians.

Then-Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur responded with a compensation announcement of ₨10 million to each victim’s family, calling the deaths “regrettable and condemnable.”

Mahsood has documented around 45 drone strikes in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in 2025, many of which were initially denied by authorities and only acknowledged — often with compensation for affected families — once independent proof emerged.

He notes that many more strikes likely go unreported, especially in remote districts like Waziristan, Bajaur, Bannu, and Khyber, because these areas are difficult to access.

According to residents interviewed by Dissent Today, there was no warning before many of these strikes — they came without notice and hit civilians, including women and children.

A senior security official, speaking anonymously, argued that local resistance complicates matters: militant groups often use homes in targeted areas as shelter, making precise operations difficult and raising the risk to civilians.

Lives Shattered, Homes Abandoned

Shamshad Khan, 23, lives in Loi Mamund, Bajaur. On August 30, he was injured in a drone strike — he lost the use of one leg. His younger sister was also wounded; she now suffers from frequent headaches.

The family fled immediately, despite previous military assurances their home was safe. Local elders had asked authorities about safety in advance, and were told they had nothing to fear.

“There are moments when I think, why did we trust them?” Khan says. There was no official aid. To reach medical help, he was carried by neighbors to a road with no vehicles, then transported by bicycle to where help was available.

The Psychological Cost

Far beyond the physical injuries, survivors describe a haunting toll: fear, nightmares, anxiety, a sense that safety is a lie.

12‑year‑old Ishaal from Kambar Khel in Tirah Valley is among them. A drone struck her home; she and other family members were wounded.

“I used to dream the Taliban were coming and killing us,” she told Dissent Today. Her mother would wake her, hold her, and tell her she was safe. But the fear remains, rooted in her sleep and waking hours alike.

No precise government statistics track these new drone and quadcopter strikes. Local authorities say they lack comprehensive data, making accountability difficult.

The Counter‑Terrorism Department, when pressed, confirmed to Dissent Today that they do not maintain exact numbers for many of the incidents.

Without clarity, victims are left without recourse.

After last week’s strike, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leaders, who head the provincial government, warned that any civilian casualties would be unacceptable — and threatened to file a case against the federal government if no militants were proven to have been present during the strike.

Back in Bar Qambar Khel, in the heart of Tirah Valley, Aliya’s father now lives under a heavy shadow of grief — his suffering, and that of countless other families, is still ignored by Pakistan’s mainstream politicians and media.

Jamaima Afridi

The writer is a freelance journalist based in the border area between Pakistan and Afghanistan. She writes about women’s rights, religious freedom, climate change, refugees, and human rights issues across Pakistan, specifically in conflict zones.

The post Unseen Victims: How Pakistan’s Drone War is Haunting Tirah Valley appeared first on Dissent Today.

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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He attributed this dire situation to an escalating government crackdown, widely believed to stem from his alleged association with the imprisoned former Prime Minister Imran Khan.

As one of Pakistan’s richest and most powerful business figures, best known as the head of Bahria Town Limited, Riaz has publicly complained for months about being targeted for “political motives.”

In a post on social media platform X on Tuesday, Riaz claimed that authorities had frozen Bahria Town’s bank accounts, confiscated vehicles, and detained dozens of employees. He added that these actions have “paralyzed” company operations and brought all projects to a standstill.

He added: “The situation has reached a point where we are being forced to completely shut down all Bahria Town activities across Pakistan.”

Before encountering these legal and financial challenges, Riaz was widely regarded as among the most powerful individuals in Pakistan. His real estate empire and political clout made him virtually untouchable.

His influence extended across political, military, and media circles, strengthening Bahria Town’s dominance in the country’s property sector.

Riaz cultivated close connections with senior political figures and high-ranking establishment officials, which often facilitated the expansion of his ventures by enabling Bahria Town to evict local communities with impunity. These evictions were typically orchestrated under state-driven “anti-encroachment” campaigns — conducted via colonial-era laws — yet carried out in coordination with Bahria Town. Such operations frequently targeted marginalized low-income groups without meaningful legal protections, compensation, or resettlement support.

Physical intimidation, legal coercion, and institutional impunity permitted construction to proceed while victims endured long-term displacement and impoverishment.

Even when heavy fines were imposed, the underlying forced-displacement patterns persisted.

In December 2019, Khan‑era Advisor Shahzad Akbar presented a sealed “non‑disclosure agreement” to the federal cabinet regarding a £190 million settlement between the UK’s National Crime Agency (NCA) and developer Malik Riaz. Cabinet ministers were not shown the document and were told opening it would breach national security protocols.

The NCA had frozen Riaz’s assets and recovered £190 million, due to be returned to Pakistan. However, the deal arranged —through Akbar — funneled the money back to Riaz to pay off his liabilities to the Supreme Court, enabling Bahria Town to avoid default.

Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) ministers, including Shireen Mazari, Pervez Khattak, Zubaida Jalal, testified in court that they had no access to the details, and were assured verbally that funds were from NCA to benefit Pakistan—not to Riaz personally.

Shortly after the transaction, the Al‑Qadir Trust was launched by Khan and his wife Bushra Bibi (among others), supposedly for charitable education projects. But accusations followed: PTI critics claim the trust was created only after the funds were transferred, to serve as a front for kickbacks from Bahria Town.

The reference alleges that 458 kanals of land valued at around Rs 530 million were donated to the trust, and an additional 240 kanals transferred to Farah Shahzadi, a close associate of Bibi.

NAB claims Imran’s cut amounted to roughly Rs 5 billion through this arrangement.

Last year, a report from Human Rights Watch described how authorities in Pakistan — often in coordination with private developers like Bahria Town — executed mass evictions of low-income communities under the guise of “anti‑encroachment” drives. Residents in Karachi, Lahore, and Islamabad were removed without notice, consultation, compensation, or resettlement support, which is a direct violation of international human rights standards. Many lost both homes and livelihoods in the process.

In 2021, eyewitness accounts and social‑media testimonies from Sindh relayed stories of families stripped of ancestral land by Bahria Town, forced to flee with virtually nothing, and deprived of acceptable means to rebuild their lives.

Honest police officials or judges who tried to pursue accountability were reportedly sidelined or transferred. Bahria Town’s influence over bureaucrats, politicians, and the media helped sustain its projects despite repeated Supreme Court rulings annulling the land transfers.

Fariha Ijaz

The writer is an Assistant Editor at Dissent Today, focusing on extremism and political violence.

The post Once Above the Law, Now Under Fire: Malik Riaz’s Empire Faces Total Shutdown appeared first on Dissent Today.

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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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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