Solidarity with Dr Mahrang Baloch and Sibghatullah Shahji

South Asia Solidarity Group Stands In Solidarity with Dr Mahrang Baloch and Sibghatullah Shahji

On 22nd June, 2026, Mahrang Baloch and Sibghatullah Shahji of the Baloch Yakjehti Committee (BYC), were sentenced to life imprisonment by the Anti-Terrorism Court in Balochistan, Pakistan. This blatant escalation by the state comes on the back of repeated human rights abuses by the Pakistani state on Balochistan and its people. Both Dr Mahrang Baloch and Sibghatullah Shahji have advocated for Baloch rights and justice for years and are leading figures in the BYC. Both have been in detention for more than a year now on multiple cases, including under the Anti-Terrorism Act. The main case against them involves the killing of a security officer, with both being accused of incendiary protest speech to incite a mob. Their trial itself has raised concerns over due process and criminalising of human rights work in Pakistan. 

South Asia Solidarity Group (SASG) believes it is crucial to contextualise the values of Dr Baloch and Sibghatullah. Dr Mahrang Baloch is a woman activist from Balochistan, who has consistently campaigned for the rights of her Baloch community and raised her voice against state repression from Pakistan. She is a leading figure of the BYC, having founded it in July 2018, when her brother was abducted by Pakistani intelligence agencies. The BYC was, thus, formed as a human rights movement in response to abuses by the Pakistani state. Sibghatullah Shahji is also an activist and member of the BYC, who has campaigned against enforced disappearances and extrajudicial killings in Balochistan. Both activists were part of the Baloch Long March against state atrocities in November 2023, with Mahrang leading it, and in July 2024, both were part of the Baloch National Gathering in Gwadar, which was brutally repressed by the Pakistani state.

Both activists have faced threats to their safety and been targeted with false accusations leading to unjust criminal charges. Mahrang has also faced a travel ban, when she was denied going to New York to attend a dinner organised by TIME magazine. In March 2025, the Pakistani state carried out a wave of arrests, raids, and reprisals against Baloch human rights activists. Subsequently, on 23rd March 2025, Mahrang Baloch, and a week later, on 30th March, Sibghatullah Shahji were arrested. Following their arrests, both were placed on Schedule 4 of Pakistan’s Anti-Terrorism Act, which is a legal watchlist of individuals the Pakistani state suspects of terrorism, sectarianism, and/or being part of proscribed organisations. 

Following their life imprisonment convictions, both were removed from Schedule 4. The trial was held in Hudda Jail, with both accused of provocative speech to incite a mob, leading to the killing of a security officer. Both activists have consistently denied these charges and claimed the accusations and trial are tools employed by the Pakistani state to silence Baloch voices. The trial was moved from open court to the jail and conducted via video link, with Amnesty International calling it a farce. Having also been denied a key witness and their own legal counsel, both Mahrang and Sibghatullah boycotted the trial.

The convictions for both activists ultimately represent another dark chapter in the history of Balochistan and the struggles of its people. This escalation by the state is a desperate attempt to criminalise legitimate protest and dissent. Enforced disappearances and extrajudicial killings remain the top issues for the people of Balochistan. From January to April 2026, the Human Rights Council of Balochistan has reported 530 cases of enforced disappearances and 268 cases of killings. Increasingly, these numbers have included women, with over 20 killed and 11 forcibly disappeared.  To silence the voices of activists raising their voice against such state atrocities blatantly reveals the narrow, security-centric perspective of Pakistan on Balochistan. The Pakistani state has continuously subjected both other Baloch activists, including members of the BYC, as well as their family members to violence, including threats, enforced disappearances, and imprisonment. It has also utilised state and corporate media to build a false narrative, painting the BYC and its activists as terrorists. 

South Asia Solidarity Group (SASG) stands in solidarity with Dr Mahrang Baloch, Sibghatullah Shahji, the Baloch Yakjehti Committee and its members,  as well as all those affected by repression and violence conducted by the Pakistani state in Balochistan. We strongly condemn the life imprisonment sentences given to both Mahrang and Sibghatullah, and recognise the right to legitimate protest, peaceful assembly, and freedom of expression, for all BYC activists. SASG demands that Mahrang and Sibghatullah be released and their convictions overturned. We further demand that all other BYC activists currently in jail be released and that the Pakistani state ends the practice of collective punishment through which it targets the families of activists. Lastly, we demand that activists  on the Schedule 4 list of the Anti-Terrorism Act be removed from it immediately and that the Pakistani state stops weaponising the Act to target human rights activists and suppress legitimate forms of protest and resistance.