BALOCHISTAN PROTESTS AND THE HUMAN RIGHTS CRISIS : A SILENCED STRUGGLE FOR JUSTICE

BALOCHISTAN PROTESTS AND THE HUMAN RIGHTS CRISIS

While the world fixates on more visible global flashpoints, a slow-burning crisis continues in Pakistan’s largest and most resource-rich province Balochistan. What unfolds there isn’t just a regional conflict or nationalist insurgency it’s a chronic humanitarian disaster, a deepening abyss of enforced disappearances, military brutality, and systematic suppression of an entire ethnic identity.

The ongoing Balochistan protests, led by brave students, grieving mothers and tenacious human rights defenders, represent a voice of resistance echoing through decades of state neglect, violence and marginalization. At the heart of these protests lies a demand not for secession or revolution, but for dignity, justice and humanity. Yet, instead of dialogue and redress, the Pakistani state has responded with intimidation, abduction, surveillance and psychological torture. This article explores the dimensions of the Balochistan human rights crisis, with a particular focus on how peaceful protestors and social activists like Maharang Baloch have been harassed, criminalized and dehumanized for raising their voices.

Balochistan, though geographically vast and rich in minerals gas, gold, coal and copper remains Pakistan’s least developed province. Basic infrastructure is crumbling, literacy rates are alarmingly low and healthcare facilities are nearly non-existent in many districts. Despite this, the province powers Pakistan’s economy, particularly through natural gas extraction and the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor. Yet Baloch people, particularly in Gwadar and Turbat, see none of the dividends. Instead, they witness the arrival of military convoys, Chinese investors and government contractors who treat their land as a profit zone and their presence as a threat. This economic marginalization, coupled with political alienation, laid the foundation for the Baloch rights movement. No issue haunts Balochistan more than the epidemic of enforced disappearances.

Since the early 2000s, thousands of young men, students, poets, activists, doctors have vanished without a trace. Intelligence agencies, particularly the Inter-Services Intelligence and Frontier Corps are routinely accused of running illegal abduction campaigns targeting anyone suspected of having nationalist sympathies. The bodies of many missing persons are later found in fields or roadsides riddled with bullets, burnt and bearing signs of torture. Others are simply never seen again.

Organizations like the Voice for Baloch Missing Persons estimate the number of missing in the tens of thousands. The Supreme Court of Pakistan, after pressure from families, has occasionally taken up cases, but results are either too slow or heavily censored. In the face of this terror, it is the Baloch mothers and sisters who have become the voice of the resistance—marching with pictures of their loved ones, setting up sit-ins in Quetta, Islamabad and Karachi and enduring unimaginable trauma in search of justice.

Among the many young leaders of the Baloch movement, Maharang Baloch, a student, activist and daughter of a missing father, has become an emblem of fearless defiance. In January 2025, during a sit-in protest in Islamabad by families of the disappeared, Maharang Baloch and several other protestors were harassed and assaulted by state security personnel. In a particularly disturbing incident, cold water was thrown on her in the freezing winter, as temperatures in the capital dropped close to zero degrees Celsius. This was not just physical cruelty it was psychological torture aimed at humiliating and breaking the spirit of a woman who dared to lead.

But Maharang did not retreat. She stood shivering, drenched, yet unwavering, refusing to leave the protest site. Her image, drenched and determined, went viral on social media and became a symbol of both state brutality and Baloch courage. Despite international outrage from human rights groups, no officer was held accountable. Instead, mainstream Pakistani media either ignored or distorted the event, labeling the protestors as “miscreants” or “anti-state elements. “The message was clear: In Pakistan, the pain of a Baloch woman can be trampled in the snow without consequence.

The treatment of Maharang Baloch is not an isolated case, it reflects a larger pattern of targeting Baloch women activists. In a patriarchal and conservative society, these women have shattered cultural barriers to step into the frontlines. They walk for days under scorching heat or freezing nights, carrying placards with their brothers' or sons' photos, seeking answers from a government that refuses to listen. Yet, instead of empathy, they are met with Police beatings. Threats of arrest and smear campaigns. Gendered abuse online and in custody. But their response has been revolutionary. The women of Balochistan are no longer just victims, they are leaders, orators, documentarians of pain and symbols of resistance against the militarized state.

In Pakistan, the Balochistan issue has been swept under the rug by both government and media alike. News outlets rarely, if ever, cover the enforced disappearances, the protests, or the violence against activists. Journalists who dare to report the truth face: Threats from military intelligence. Forced exile or disappearance. Censorship, blocked broadcasts and bans. Independent Baloch journalists often rely on YouTube channels, Twitter spaces, or exile-run publications to reach the outside world. But even these are subjected to takedowns and algorithmic suppression. The silence from the media isn’t just neglect, it is collaboration in repression.

The China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, hailed as a strategic game-changer, is viewed by many Balochs as a new form of economic colonization. While billions of dollars are invested into highways, ports and energy grids in Balochistan, local communities are forcibly evicted, especially around Gwadar. Fishing villages have been razed and barbed-wire fences now separate residents from the sea their only source of livelihood. Mass protests under the banner of the “Haq Do Gwadar Ko” (Give Rights to Gwadar) movement have been repeatedly crushed. Leaders like Maulana Hidayat ur Rehman have been jailed for organizing peaceful rallies. Here again, Baloch voices are criminalized for daring to ask: “Where are our rights?”

The new face of Baloch resistance is young. University students in Lahore, Islamabad and Karachi many of whom are themselves children of the disappeared have organized hunger strikes, teach-ins and marches. These students: Face daily surveillance on campuses. Are harassed for speaking Balochi. Are often detained without cause under “anti-terror” laws. In one notable incident, students of Quaid-e-Azam university staged a peaceful protest in solidarity with the missing persons movement—only to be baton-charged and detained.

This generational resistance is not just political, it’s existential. They are fighting for the right to study, live, speak and remember without being labeled a threat. Despite the gravity of the crisis, the international community remains largely silent on Balochistan. Why? Western governments rely on Pakistan’s cooperation in Afghanistan and counterterrorism. China’s involvement via The China-Pakistan Economic Corridor makes Balochistan a no-go zone for criticism. Gulf nations, historically sympathetic to Baloch concerns, are now investing in Pakistan’s real estate and mining projects.

Even major human rights organizations, while documenting incidents, have failed to launch sustained campaigns. For comparison: one Palestinian death evokes international headlines, but thousands of Baloch disappearances are met with shrugs. This is not an accident. It’s a failure of global conscience.

The Balochistan protests are not merely political, they are humanitarian. They are not about secession or conflict, they are about survival, identity and dignity. From the mothers holding fading photos of sons lost to the dark cells of state terror, to activists like Maharang Baloch standing drenched in winter cold with unshaken resolve, this is the story of a people who refuse to disappear, even when the world refuses to see them. The Pakistani state must be held accountable: For the missing persons. For the torture of students and activists. For turning Balochistan into a zone of silence and fear. And the world must wake up: To amplify these voices. To demand action at the UN and in bilateral dialogues. To place human rights over geopolitics. For every drop of cold water thrown at a peaceful protestor, for every body dumped in the night and for every silenced mother, we must echo the only message that matters now: Baloch Lives Matter.