Sawt Falasteen - Pakistan charges Baloch activist with 'terrorism'

Mahrang Baloch, one of Pakistan's most prominent human rights advocates, has long campaigned for the Baloch ethnic group, which claims it has been targeted by Islamabad with harassment and extrajudicial killings.

Pakistan has been battling a separatist insurgency in Balochistan for decades, where militants target state forces and foreign nationals in the mineral-rich southwestern province bordering Afghanistan and Iran.

On Friday, she and other activists took part in a sit-in protest outside the University of Balochistan in the provincial capital of Quetta.

They demanded the release of members of their support group, whom they allege had been detained by security agencies.

Police launched a pre-dawn raid on Saturday, arresting Baloch and other activists, during which at least three protestors died. Both sides blamed each other for the deaths.

Mary Lawlor, the United Nations special rapporteur on human rights defenders, said she was "very concerned" at Baloch's arrest.

Baloch and other protesters have been charged with terrorism, sedition and murder, according to the police charge sheet seen by AFP.

Hamza Shafqaat, a senior administrative official in Quetta, said that Baloch and other activists were held under public order laws.

Her lawyer, Imran Baloch, confirmed she was detained in a jail in Quetta.

Baloch was barred from travelling to the United States last year to attend a TIME magazine awards gala of "rising leaders".

Protests among the Baloch are often led by women. Baloch, now in her 30s, began her activist career aged 16 when her father went missing in what his supporters said was an alleged "enforced disappearance". His body was found two years later.

Earlier in March, the separatist Baloch Liberation Army (BLA) -- which accuses outsiders of plundering the province's natural resources -- launched a dramatic train siege that officials said ended in around 60 deaths, half of whom were separatists behind the assault.

F.AbuZaid--SF-PST