Lawyers say court ‘declined’ to hear Mahrang Baloch case

QUETTA: The Balochistan High Court refused on Tuesday to rule on the detention of Baloch activist Mahrang Baloch, a decision her lawyers said will delay her case and keep her behind bars.

The 32-year-old was placed under administrative detention by the Balochistan provincial government on March 22, accusing her of terrorism, sedition and murder after she led a protest.

The high court refused to hear an appeal against her detention, instead referring her case to the provincial government, according to her defence team.

“They closed all doors for us to appeal and directed us to the government instead,” her lawyer Kamran Murtaza told AFP, calling it a “refusal of justice”.

Imaan Mazari, a second lawyer, called it a “complete abdication of responsibility” by the justice system, which has “put her at the mercy of the same administration that detained her”.

Mahrang Baloch will now remain under administrative detention, a 30-day period renewable three times under Pakistani law.

The UN has expressed “concern” for the trainee surgeon, who was named by Time Magazine as one of the 100 rising leaders of 2024.

Balochistan, the country’s poorest province that borders Iran and Afghanistan, is in the grip of separatist militants who regularly carry out attacks on security forces.

Mahrang Baloch founded the Baloch Unity Committee which accuses the state of extrajudicial executions, enforced disappearances, and arbitrary arrests in their security operations but advocates non-violence.

At least 3,000 supporters have taken part in an ongoing sit-in, blocking key roads near the main city of Quetta for the past two weeks and demanding the release of Baloch and other activists.