Balochistan Rights Crackdown in Pakistan
Recent Developments
0129 April 2025: UN experts urged Pakistan to address human rights violations in Balochistan, warning about enforced disappearances, protest restrictions, torture allegations, internet blackouts, and proposed internment centres that could increase arbitrary detention risks.
02March 2025: Amnesty reported a renewed crackdown on Baloch activists, including continued detention of protesters and the use of bogus FIRs and preventive detention orders despite bail decisions.
03June 2025: Paank reported 84 enforced disappearances, 33 extrajudicial killings, and 32 torture victims in Balochistan, with Kech and Mastung recording the highest number of disappearances.
04October 2025: Amnesty said 32 people from Khuzdar, Kech, and Chagai were placed under the Fourth Schedule of the Anti-Terrorism Act, restricting movement and exposing families to surveillance and financial controls.
Interventions
- UN Special Procedures have publicly called on Pakistan to review counter-terrorism practices in Balochistan and ensure compliance with international human rights law.
- Amnesty International and other human rights organizations are documenting abuses and pressing for the release of detained activists and an end to the crackdown on dissent.
What Works
- Release of peaceful protesters and human rights defenders, combined with an end to arbitrary detention and misuse of preventive security laws, is the clearest rights-protective measure identified by UN and NGO reporting.
- Restoring internet access and protecting freedom of assembly and association are repeatedly recommended by UN experts and rights groups as necessary conditions for civic space, accountability, and independent reporting.
How to Help
- Support human rights organizations documenting abuses in Balochistan, including Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, and FIDH.
- Advocate for the release of detained peaceful protesters and for legal safeguards against enforced disappearances and arbitrary detention.
- Raise the issue with elected representatives and international human rights bodies, urging scrutiny of counter-terrorism measures in Balochistan.
Make an Impact
Direct donations to verified organizations working on this crisis. Your contribution makes a difference.
Coming soon: one-click donations distributed across all organizations via our impact protocol.
Raise Awareness
Can't donate? You can still make a huge impact. Join others in amplifying this cause globally by sharing it with your network.
Verified Organizations
Organizations Helping(5)
CPD works through peace and human rights education, civic education, and capacity building, and it operates across multiple districts in Balochistan. On issues linked to the crackdown, its approach is to strengthen civic awareness, democratic participation, and rights-based community capacity, which can support affected communities in understanding and asserting their rights.
BYC works as a grassroots protest and advocacy movement centered on alleged human rights abuses in Balochistan. Based on the source provided, its approach is mobilization around enforced disappearances and other abuses, though the available result is a secondary source and offers less operational detail than the other organizations listed.
This network’s role is to defend freedom of expression and peaceful assembly for Baloch human rights defenders, especially in response to harassment and arbitrary detention. The linked Amnesty appeal shows the issue is being addressed through collective advocacy, public pressure on authorities, and international solidarity for detained or targeted defenders.
BHRG documents, monitors, and reports violations in Balochistan, with special attention to political prisoners, minorities, juveniles, and cases involving torture or coerced confessions. It also works with international human rights mechanisms, lawyers, journalists, civil society groups, and families of victims to increase accountability and international awareness.
