Mahal Baloch was arrested on February 17 by officials from law enforcement agencies from her home in Quetta as alleged by her family and locals. She remained forcibly disappeared until the CTD declared her a “terrorist” on February 19 and claimed they arrested her from a park in Satellite Town, Karachi, recovering a suicide jacket from her.

Since her arrest, she has been continuously remanded into CTD’s custody by a sessions court.

Mahal Baloch’s family and human rights activists have accused CTD and Balochistan government officials of conducting a media trial by releasing the video message of Mahal Baloch in which she confessed her link with the banned BLF.

She has also appeared for a TV interview while she remains in CTD’s custody.

Earlier, Balochistan CTD DIG Aitzaz Goraya and CM’s spokesman Babar Khan Yousafzai had held a press conference and said that Mahal Baloch admitted her association with the outlawed BLF.

They presented a video message of Mahal Baloch in which she confessed her link with the BLF and said her husband was also working for the banned organisation.

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She was produced before a court after much delay and the CTD asked for a 14-day remand. The court agreed.

Following fourteen days of remand during which she was allegedly tortured, the CTD sought another 10-day remand after presenting her before the court, which the court approved.

She was once again tortured during this period, and there was yet another request from CTD for a 10-day remand, which was also approved by the court.
Following this, CTD released a video of Mahal Baloch confessing to her crimes as a facilitator in an expected suicide attack in the provincial capital. Human rights activists protested this development, saying the video was made in law enforcement officials’ custody, while Mahal Baloch’s family claimed the video was forcibly obtained and accused the Baloch government and CTD authorities of orchestrating a media trial.

She was presented in court on March 24 and CTD asked for a 10-day remand again and the court agreed.

For more than 30 days, we have been observing a false charge of crime on a widow, who is a mother of two young daughters, Nugrah and Nazink who are under 10 years of age. It’s like a vicious cycle.

Every time she is presented before an anti-terrorism court, she is again remanded into CTD’s custody where she is being allegedly tortured to confess to a crime that she has not committed. Her family has reiterated that she is being tortured in custody.

A provincial organisation working to recover Baloch missing persons, Voice for Baloch Missing Persons (VBMP), has accused the security agencies of abducting Baloch people and linking them to banned militant groups with little evidence.

There are also instances of CTD officials killing Baloch missing persons in fake encounters. Last year, Tabish and three other missing persons were killed in Kharan over the charges of being linked to Baloch insurgents. However, Tabish was ‘abducted’ in front of his family in Hub and his case, too, was registered with VBMP.

Therefore, this injustice is nothing new for the Baloch people as they have been treated differently from the rest of the country and dubious criminal charges by the CTD have become a norm in the most impoverished province of Pakistan. Along with that, the department has also become notorious among locals for arresting innocent Baloch people and making them confess under duress for crimes they have not committed.

Mahal Baloch’s prolonged remand into CTD’s custody only goes to prove that the Counter Terrorism Department has failed to establish a case against her. Her family, Turbat Civil Society, Voice For Baloch Missing Persons, and Baloch activists fear that she was forced into giving a false confession.

Despite calls from human rights defenders, including human rights watchdog Amnesty International South Asia, to end the arbitrary detention of Mahal Baloch, the state has turned a blind eye to the issue. One can only wonder to what extent the state would continue to silence the Baloch people, considering the extent of atrocities committed against them.

With many men missing, Baloch women have taken a center stage in the Baloch people’s fight against what can only be termed as state oppression which includes enforced disappearances and other human rights violations, making women a soft target for security agencies.

Ali Jan

The post ‘Tortured Into False Confession’: Baloch Woman Mahal Remains In CTD’s Custody For Over 30 Days  appeared first on Dissent Today.

The family of Mahal Baloch said this during a press conference held at Quetta Press Club.

The family also accused the CTD officials and Balochistan government officials of conducting a media trial by releasing the video message of Mahal Baloch in which she confessed her link with the banned BLF. They said this also put the rest of the family in danger, reported The Balochistan Post.

The family urged the government and judicial authorities to take notice of the matter.

Earlier, Balochistan CTD DIG Aitzaz Goraya and CM’s spokesman Babar Khan Yousafzai held a press conference and said that Mahal Baloch admitted her association with the outlawed BLF.

They presented a video message of Mahal Baloch in which she confessed her link with the BLF and said her husband was also working for the banned organisation.

“My husband was kil­led along with his brother in 2016 and I shifted to Karachi with my in-laws where people belonging to the banned organisation contacted and brainwashed [me], and after that, I joined the organisation and later shifted to Quetta,” she said.

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عورت مارچ لاہور نے ماہل بلوچ کے غیر قانونی اغوا اور گراناز مری کو انصاف دلانے کے لیے ہونے والے احتجاج میں شرکت کی۔ #JusticeForMarriFamily #ReleaseMahalBaloch pic.twitter.com/3FjdLbhQqh

— ⁧عورت مارچ لاہور⁩ – Aurat March Lahore (@AuratMarch) February 24, 2023

Earlier this week, authorities allegedly abducted a woman named Mahal Baloch along with her two children from Quetta, Balochistan. The children were later released, however, the Counter Terrorism Department (CTD) detained the woman, declaring her a ‘terrorist’.

The women rights activists also demanded justice for gender-based crime in Balochistan and chanted slogans against enforced disappearances.

عورت مارچ گراناز اور ظلم کا نشانہ بنانے والی ہر بلوچ عورت کیلئے انصاف کا مطالبہ کرنے کے ساتھ ساتھ بلوچ خواتین پر تشدد کرنے والے افراد کو انصاف کے کٹہرے میں لانے کے اپنے مطالبے کو ایک نئے سرے سے دہراتا ہے۔ ہم اس ظلم سے صرفِ نظر نہیں کر سکتے۔#JusticeForMarriFamily pic.twitter.com/KKrPh1lmmb

— ⁧عورت مارچ لاہور⁩ – Aurat March Lahore (@AuratMarch) February 24, 2023

On Wednesday, the police arrested Provincial Minister Sardar Abdul Rehman Khetran in connection with the three bodies recovered from a well in Barkhan, Balochistan.

The provincial minister was accused by a citizen named Khan Muhammad Marri of detaining his wife, Granaz, and seven children in his private jail. Granaz Marri had also appeared in a video where she claimed she and her children had been abducted by the minister and were being kept in his private prison.

Initially, the recovered bodies from the well were assumed to be of Granaz and her sons. But it was revealed that the body of the woman found in Barkhan — whose face was rendered unrecognisable —was not of the 40- year-old Granaz Marri, but rather of a young woman, around the age of 18.

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