Pakistan: Authorities systematically target Baloch and other activists on baseless charges, block social media and criminalise journalists

The state of civic space in Pakistan is rated as ‘repressed’ by the CIVICUS Monitor. Ongoing concerns include the repression against the opposition, the censorship of journalists and attacks on peaceful protests held by the opposition and human rights movements. Other ongoing concerns include the criminalisation, threats and harassment of human rights defenders and the failure to hold perpetrators to account. There have also been violations documented against ethnic Pashtun, Sindh and Baloch minorities and women’s rights activists.

In April 2025, The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) published its annual report, highlighting a troubling decline in civic freedoms and deteriorating law and order. Among concerns over the last year were cases of enforced disappearance, bans on social media platforms, arrests of journalists reporting on politically sensitive issues, prevention of public gatherings, the ban on the Pashtun Tahafuz Movement and the use of disproportionate - and on occasion, lethal - force against assemblies.

In recent months, there has been a systematic crackdown on Baloch activists while other activists also faced criminalisation and harassment for their activism. A regressive anti-terror law was passed in Balochistan, the YouTube channels of reporters and opposition were blocked, and journalists remain at risk. Civil society continued to call for a repeal of the PECA (Amendment) Act, there were restrictions and crackdowns on protests as well as convictions against the opposition for the 2023 protests.

Association

Crackdown on Baloch activists on baseless charges

There has been a systematic and relentless crackdown on Baloch activists since March 2025, in particular the Baloch Yakjehti Committee (BYC), a peaceful grassroots movement that has mobilised thousands to demand justice, accountability, and an end to enforced disappearances.

According to Amnesty International, Baloch activists Bebarg Zehri and his brother Hammal Zehri, were taken from their home in Quetta by Counter Terrorism Department officials on 20th March 2025 following a press conference by the Baloch Yakjethi Committee at the Quetta Press Club over their long-standing demand for justice for families of victims of enforced disappearances. Bebarg Zehri, a person with disability, remains detained to date under the Maintenance of Public Order Ordinance (MPO). The MPO has been used to prolong the arbitrary detention of activists in violation of their rights to liberty and due process.

On 22nd March 2025, central leader of the Baloch Yakjethi Committee, Dr. Mahrang Baloch, and Beebow Baloch were arrested during a peaceful protest in Quetta, a day after three protesters were killed due to use of excessive force by law enforcement agencies. They were held under the MPO, with separate terrorism charges also brought against Mahrang.

The sisters of Dr. Mahrang Baloch have raised serious concerns about her health at the Hudda District Prison, due to possibly unhygienic food and the denial of medical treatment.

On 24th March 2025, at least six activists, including Sammi Deen Baloch, a key leader in BYC, were detained for disregarding a blanket ban on assemblies in the city, following a protest in Karachi in Sindh province.

Further, BYC activist Shah Jee Sibghat Ullah was taken by Counter Terrorism Department (CTD) from his residence in Quetta on 30th March 2025. He was detained under section 3 of the MPO. Another BYC activist, Gulzadi Baloch, was detained by police and CTD personnel from Quetta on 7th April 2025.

On 5th April 2025, CTD raided the residence of BYC activist Beebow Baloch in Kelli Qambarani, Quetta city, and detained her father, Ghaffar Qambarani, a senior political activist.

On 6th July 2025, Baloch human rights defender Gulzar Dost, convenor of the organisation Kech Civil Society, was abducted from his residence by CTD personnel. The officers did not provide a warrant or reason for his detention. For almost eight hours, there was no information about his fate or whereabouts, raising serious concern over his safety. On 7th July 2025, the CTD acknowledged that the human rights defender is in their custody and was being held at the CTD headquarters in the Kech District, Balochistan.

Pakistani security forces reportedly raided the home of prominent Baloch woman leader Dr. Sabiha Baloch, a senior member of the Baloch Yakjehti Committee (BYC), on 16th July 2025. According to her, they stormed her family home in her native village without any legal warrant or prior notice. The security forces searched the house, harassed family members, and issued threats throughout the operation.

On 19th July, HRCP reported that five BYC activists detained in Quetta District Jail under the Maintenance of Public Order Ordinance (MPO) since March 2025 - were allegedly prevented from signing power-of-attorney letters by the jail’s superintendent. They include Beebarg Baloch, Sibghatullah Shahji, Beebow Baloch and Gulzadi Baloch.

Civil society groups and UN human rights experts have expressed serious concern over the excessive and harmful impacts of Pakistan’s counter-terrorism measures in Balochistan and have called for full respect for international law. They condemned reports of widespread torture, ill-treatment, extrajudicial killings and indiscriminate violence by security forces, especially against peaceful protesters and Baloch human rights defenders. They also expressed concern at the detention of Baloch Yakjehti Committee (BYC) leaders and their supporters, and actions against their family members and lawyers, which may amount to reprisals for their interaction with United Nations mechanisms.

Criminalisation and harassment of other activists

Other activists have also faced investigations, arrest or harassment for their peaceful expression or activism.

On 20th March 2025, Imaan Zainab Mazari and her husband, advocate Hadi Ali Chattha, were issued summons by the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) Cyber Crimes Reporting Unit in Lahore to appear for an inquiry based on what appear to be baseless allegations. The FIA declined to provide any further details, including a copy of the original complaint, nor did they share information regarding the basis or substance of the inquiry. Imaan Zainab Mazari is a woman human rights lawyer who has represented countless victims of human rights violations. Due to her activism and advocacy, Imaan Mazari has been targeted by state authorities.

In April 2025, the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) registered a case against lawyer and human rights activist Jalila Haider under the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act (PECA) for her support on her X account for the activities of Baloch Yakjehti Committee (BYC) leader Dr Mahrang Baloch. The FIR accused Haider of attempting to “create anxiety in the society” and “weaken the state” through the spread of misinformation.

In the same month an inquiry was launched by the FIA against well-respected human rights defender and former senator Farhatullah Babar following allegations of financial corruption. According to the HRCP, the timing of this probe raised serious doubts as to its legitimacy, given that Babar - who has been the driving force behind some of Pakistan's most progressive legislation and also serves on HRCP's governing council - has long been a vocal critic of state policies and institutions.

Security forces raided the home of renowned Sindhi writer and poet Taj Joyo on 19th May 2025 following a rally organised by the Sindhian National Congress (SNC) against proposed corporate farming initiatives, environmental degradation, and alleged enforced disappearances of political activists. The police also severely beat and arrested his two sons before taking them away. According to Hyderabad police, authorities filed sedition and terrorism charges against Joyo’s three sons and approximately 250 supporters. Joyo’s two sons and five others were subsequently granted bail.

On 15th May 2025, HRCP reported a crackdown on political activists in Gilgit-Baltistan ahead of a grand jirga being organised by the Awami Action Committee to address the region's rights issues and to safeguard its land and mineral resources. Those reportedly arrested included three senior political leaders, Ehsan Ali, Mehboob Wali and Masood ur Rehman.

Asif Sakhi, vice president of the left-wing Awami Workers Party (AWP) Gilgit-Baltistan, was arrested by security forces on 24th May 2025. Sakhi has been a part of the movement against the land grabbing in the Gilgit-Baltistan region and was a candidate for the provincial legislative assembly from the AWP in the last elections. Activists claimed that Sakhi was initially arrested without a First Information Report (FIR), an essential legal document in Pakistan that initiates the criminal justice process.

NGO files petition with the UN for activist Idris Khattak

In June 2025, Freedom House filed a petition with the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention (WGAD) on behalf of Idris Khattak, a well-known human rights defender in Pakistan. Khattak is serving a 14-year prison sentence for his peaceful human rights work, which included documenting repression of the Pashtun minority in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province and the former Federally Administered Tribal Areas, and enforced disappearances there.

The human rights defender was forcibly disappeared on 13th November 2019, and found in state custody over seven months later. He was tried and convicted by a military court under the Official Secrets Act (OSA) and sentenced to 14 years’ imprisonment in December 2021. According to Front Line Defenders, an appeal against his conviction is pending before a military court and offers some hope for his release.

Still no truth on enforced disappearances after 20 years

30th July 2025 marks the 20th anniversary of the enforced disappearance of Masood Janjua and Faisal Faraz. Masood Ahmed Janjua, a businessman and educator from Rawalpindi, and his friend Faisal Faraz, an engineer from Lahore, disappeared on 30th July 2005, while traveling on a bus to Peshawar. Since then, there has been mounting evidence indicating their abduction by the intelligence agency.

In 2006, the case was taken as a suo moto case in the Supreme Court. Despite multiple testimonies from persons subjected to enforced disappearances, who later resurfaced, testifying to seeing both men in detention, the state continues to deny any knowledge of their whereabouts. In October 2018, a special bench of the Supreme Court transferred the case along with other cases of enforced disappearances, to the Commission of Inquiry on Enforced Disappearances (CoIoED). There was a hearing in January 2024, but has been no further update on the case, highlighting a systemic failure within the justice system.

Regressive anti-terror law passed in Balochistan

In June, the Balochistan Assembly adopted the Anti-Terrorism (Balochistan Amendment) Act, 2025, giving law enforcement agencies excessive powers. The draft of the bill was moved by Balochistan Awami Party (BAP) MPA Mir Sadiq Sanjrani.

Concerns were raised by civil society that the law grants sweeping powers of preventive detention for up to three months without formal charges - an unacceptable measure that undermines the fundamental rights to liberty, due process and protection from arbitrary arrest.

They urged the provincial government to reconsider this legislation and ensure it aligns with Pakistan’s constitutional obligations under Article 10 and international human rights commitments under the ICCPR, to which Pakistan is a state party.

Expression

YouTube channels of reporters and opposition blocked briefly

On 8th July 2025, the state expanded its crackdown on dissent when an Islamabad judicial magistrate, acting on a request from the National Cyber Crime Investigation Agency (NCCIA), ordered YouTube to block 27 channels - including those of veteran reporters Matiullah Jan and Asad Toor, and the official channel of political party Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), along with several other political commentators.

According to the JURIST, the magistrate’s order was issued in complete haste, without offering the 27 individuals a chance to be heard. The order directed YouTube and its parent company to “block” or “remove” a list of YouTube channels and was provided to all parties, without referencing specific content or providing any legal justification for bypassing due process laws.

According to the court order, the NCCA initiated an inquiry into the matter on 2nd June 2025. During the course of the investigation, a request was filed under Section 37 of the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act (PECA) 2016, which empowers authorities to restrict access to online content deemed harmful to public order, national security, or the integrity of the state.

The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) expressed concern about the court order, saying the blanket ban “conflates dissent with criminal activity”. “The wholesale blocking of entire channels—rather than addressing specific instances of unlawful or hateful speech — sets a dangerous precedent”, HRCP said in a statement.

On 11 July 2025, theban was suspended by Islamabad Additional Sessions Judge Afzal Majoka.

Journalists remain at risk

Pakistan’s ranking in the Press Freedom Index declined from 152nd to 158th place, according to the latest report released by Reporters without Borders (RSF), which assessed press freedom across 180 countries. The report attributed Pakistan's decline primarily to tightening restrictions on journalistic freedom, highlighting growing censorship and limitations imposed on the media landscape. This has persisted in recent months.

Journalist Farhan Mallick was detained in Karachi on 21st March 2025 by Pakistan’s Federal Investigation Agency (FIA). Mallick, founder of the independent online media platform Raftar, was arrested on accusations of running “several programs against the security establishment.” Mallick appeared before the Judicial Magistrate (East) court in Karachi, where the magistrate ordered him placed in FIA custody for four days.

Journalist Waheed Murad was taken away by masked men who broke into his home in the capital Islamabad on 26th March 2025. Murad, who works as a reporter for Urdu News and runs the independent news site Pakistani24, later appeared before the Judicial Magistrate Islamabad (West) court, where he was placed in the custody of the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) for two days under Pakistan’s cybercrime laws for allegedly posting “intimidating content” online.

On 12th May 2025, YouTube told exiled investigative journalist Ahmad Noorani that it had blocked his channel, with 173,000 followers, in Pakistan based on a legal complaint from the government. The following day, Pakistan’s National Cyber Crime Investigation Agency opened an investigation into Noorani, accusing him of running hate campaigns against the armed forces, under the controversial Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act, for which he could face up to three years’ imprisonment. The investigators cited two of Noorani’s posts on the social media platform X that criticised Pakistan’s army during the April-May 2025 conflict with India.

Previously in March 2025, about two dozen individuals, identifying themselves as police, forcibly entered and searched Noorani’s family home in Islamabad. They assaulted the journalist’s two brothers, Mohammad Saif ur Rehman Haider and Mohammad Ali, dragged them into vehicles, and took them to an undisclosed location. Noorani identified the abductors as agents of the Inter-Services Intelligence and Military Intelligence.

On 24th May 2025, journalist Latif Baloch was killed in the southwestern province of Balochistan. That morning, unidentified gunmen broke into Baloch’s home in the Mashkay Tehsil subdivision of Awaran district and shot him dead. The motive remains unclear. Baloch was affiliated with major media outlets, including Daily Intekhab, AAJ News, and ARY News, covering the volatile province.

Senior official arrested for anti-army remarks in WhatsApp group

A senior National Database & Registration Authority (NADRA) official in Lahore was arrested in May 2025 by the National Cyber Crime Investigation Agency (NCCIA) for allegedly sharing derogatory remarks about the Pakistan Army in a NADRA employees’ WhatsApp group.

According to the First Information Report (FIR) filed that day, the accused (identified as Hina Rehman Sheikh, a senior executive at NADRA Lahore) had posted content deemed a “mischievous act of subversion” against the Army and the state. The FIR cites offences under Sections 20, 24, 24(A) and 26A of the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act (PECA) 2016 in this case.

Civil society calls for repeal of the PECA (Amendment) Act in new report

A report released by the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) underscored serious flaws in the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act (PECA) (Amendment) Act 2025 and called for the law to be repealed entirely without accepting any coercive application of the law's previous iterations from 2016 and 2023.

The law criminalises vague categories of ‘fake and false information’ with penalties of up to three years’ imprisonment. It also establishes a powerful regulatory authority, a complaints council, and a tribunal - all of which are subject to disproportionate executive control.

Further, concerns include the conversion of previously bailable and non-cognisable offences into non-bailable and cognisable ones, widening the scope for coercive action. Additionally, the National Cyber Crime Investigation Agency has replaced the Federal Investigation Authority, operating without adequate safeguards.

Peaceful Assembly

Restrictions and crackdown on protests

There has been a continued crackdown on protests by the security forces..

Protests by Baloch activists have been blocked or disrupted in recent months. In March 2025, all the roads leading to the Karachi Press Club were blocked by the police and a Section 144 (a colonial era law that prohibits public assemblies) was imposed in District South. The demonstration was organised by the BYC against the “illegal detention” of its members. In July 2025, police in Islamabad blocked Baloch protesters from reaching the National Press Club, with barricades.

On 23rd June 2025, police charged and fired tear gas shells to disperse protesting employees of the provincial government in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. On the call of the All-Government Employees Grand Alliance (AGEGA), the employees of the provincial departments staged a protest demonstration at the Provincial Assembly Square. The protesting employees were carrying placards calling for better salaries, withdrawal of the pension reforms and shifting the employees of the provincial departments from the contributory provident fund to General Provident (GP) Fund. Police lathi-charged and shelled tear gas to disperse the protesters, and also detained at least four protesters.

Pakistan Army allegedly fired upon peaceful Pashtun protestors at Tirah Valley in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa on 27th July 2025, killing seven ethnic Pashtuns and injuring over twenty others. The group had gathered to protest the death of a child who was killed in mortar fire.

Conviction and sentences against the opposition

On 23rd July 2025, an anti-terrorism court sentenced eight members of Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party to 10 years in jail each for inciting protests that targeted military sites following the former prime minister’s arrest in 2023.

The case pertains to the incidents that occurred at Sherpao Bridge in Lahore on 9th May 2023 and the charges include terrorism and other criminal charges.

The convicted PTI members include officials of the party’s previous provincial government in Punjab such as Yasmin Rashid, Ejaz Chaudhry, Mehmoodur Rashid, and Umar Sarfraz Cheema. The trial was held behind closed doors in a prison in Lahore city.

The sentencing of its eight prominent members is the latest in a wave of prosecutions targeting Khan’s PTI following his ouster in 2022.

The court also acquitted six individuals, including former foreign minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi and Hamza Azeem.