Sawt Falasteen - Pakistan detains leading Baloch rights activist: police

Mahrang Baloch, one of Pakistan's most prominent human rights advocates, has long campaigned for the Baloch ethnic group from the southwestern province of Balochistan, which alleges being subjected to extrajudicial harassment, arrests and killings by Islamabad.

The Pakistan government says its forces are fighting separatist militants who target state forces and foreign nationals in the mineral-rich province that borders Afghanistan and Iran.

"She, along with 17 other protesters, including 10 men and seven women, has been arrested," a senior police official told AFP on condition of anonymity, as he was not authorised to speak to the media.

"It is currently being assessed what charges should be filed against them," he added.

The protesters had been holding a sit-in on Friday outside the University of Balochistan, demanding the release of members of their support group, whom they allege had been detained by security agencies.

The Baloch Yakjehti Committee, a support group led by Baloch, said she was arrested along with other protesters in a "brutal pre-dawn crackdown by state security forces".

The confrontation left at least three protestors dead a provincial government spokesman said, with both sides blaming each other.

- 'Cease to use force' -

It comes after the province saw a dramatic train siege this month that officials said resulted in around 60 deaths, half of whom were separatists behind the assault.

The assault was claimed by the Baloch Liberation Army (BLA), one of several separatist groups that accuse outsiders of plundering the province's natural resources.

"The authorities must immediately cease to use force against peaceful protestors and release those arbitrarily detained," demanded the independent Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) in a statement.

"The use of disproportionate and unlawful kinetic means by the state must cease immediately to pave the way for a purposeful political solution," it added.

Baloch was barred from traveling to the United States last year to attend a TIME magazine awards gala after being named on the 2024 TIME100 Next list of "rising leaders".

She began her activist career at the age of 16 in 2009 when her father went missing in an alleged "enforced disappearance". His body was found two years later.

Protests and advocacy among the Baloch are generally led by women, who say their male counterparts have suffered the worst in a decades-long state crackdown.

U.AlSharif--SF-PST