Mahrang | Pakistan

A five-member Constitutional Bench (CB) of the Supreme Court on Thursday referred a plea against the detention of Baloch Yakjehti Committee chief Mahrang Baloch to the Practice and Procedure Committee, which forms benches and fixes cases under the Supreme Court (Practice and Procedure) Act, 2023. The plea, filed by Mahrang’s sister Nadia Baloch through senior counsel Faisal Siddiqi in June, urges the SC to set aside an April 15 order of the Balo­ch­istan High Court (BHC) that rej­ected a petition against Mahrang’s detention under the Main­tenance of Public Order— a law that empowers authorities to arrest and detain individuals suspected of posing a threat to public order initially for a period of 30 days. Mahrang is currently detained at the Hudda District Prison in Quetta on charges of attacking Quetta Civil Hospital and inciting people to violence. The plea filed by her sister was taken up by the CB today. The CB was headed by Justice Aminuddin Khan and comprised Justices Jamal Khan Mandokhail, Muhammad Ali...

An anti-terrorism court (ATC) in Quetta on Tuesday handed Baloch Yakjehti Committee (BYC) chief Dr Mahrang Baloch and other organisers of the group into police custody for 10 days, extending their three-month detention. In March, Mahrang and other BYC members were arrested for “attacking” the Quetta Civil Hospital and “inciting people to violence”, a day after the group faced a police crackdown while protesting against alleged enforced disappearances. The BYC is a Baloch advocacy group working against enforced disappearances since 2018. Mahrang has been held at the Hudda District Prison in Quetta under Section 3 of the Mainte­nance of Public Order (MPO) — a law that empowers authorities to arrest and detain individuals suspected of posing a threat to public order. Mahrang’s counsel, Advocate Israr Baloch, told Dawn.com that the BYC organiser and five other activists were presented before Judge Saadat Bazai, who approved the state prosecutor’s request for their 10-day physical remand. The other activists were ...

Rights activist Mahrang Baloch on Thursday moved the Supreme Court against the Balochistan High Court’s (BHC) May 22 order that dismissed constitutional petitions challenging her detention and that of two other Baloch leaders, more than two months after they were held under Section 3 of the Maintenance of Public Order Ordinance (MPO). Mahrang, the chief of the Baloch Yakjehti Committee (BYC), along with other activists of the group was arrested on March 22 for allegedly “attacking” Quetta Civil Hospital and “inciting people to violence”, a day after their members faced a police crackdown in Quetta while protesting against alleged enforced disappearances. The BYC is a Baloch advocacy group working against enforced disappearances since 2018. Mahrang’s sister had challenged the detention in the BHC but the court had asked the petitioner to approach the home department for her release. The sister had subsequently filed constitutional petitions in the high court challenging the detentions but those were dismissed....