QUETTA: A leading Baloch ethnic rights group announced on Saturday its top leader was arrested along with several of her colleagues in southwestern Balochistan after police raided their protest camp at dawn in the provincial capital of Quetta.
Dr. Mahrang Baloch has long campaigned for the rights of the ethnic Baloch community, which claims to be subjected to extrajudicial harassment, arrests and killings by security forces in the province.
The Pakistani state, however, denies the allegation, saying its forces are combating separatist militants who target armed forces personnel and foreign nationals in the mineral-rich province that borders Iran and Afghanistan.
The Baloch Yakjehti Committee (BYC) said its leader’s arrest came amid a province-wide wheel-jam strike that followed an alleged police attack on a protest in Quetta that killed three people on Friday evening. According to BYC, Baloch and other supporters began a sit-in with the bodies of the deceased when authorities intervened and detained them.
“At around 5:30 this morning, police and other state agencies attacked the protest sit-in, seized the bodies of the martyrs from the demonstrators, and arrested Baloch Yakjehti Committee’s central leader, Dr. Mahrang Baloch, along with her companions,” Sammi Deen Baloch, a BYC leader, said in a social media post.
“The bodies of the slain youth were also forcibly taken into custody. In addition, a crackdown was carried out against women and children as well,” she added.
Arab News made multiple attempts to contact government and police officials for comment, but did not receive a response.
However, AFP quoted a senior police official, speaking on condition of anonymity, who confirmed the arrests and said that Baloch and 17 others had been taken into custody.
“It is currently being assessed what charges should be filed against them,” the official said.
Previously, the provincial authorities of Balochistan accused the BYC of getting into a confrontation with police after some demonstrators attempted to retrieve the bodies of deceased militants involved in the hijacking of the Jaffar Express train last week.
The Baloch Liberation Army (BLA), a separatist group, had targeted the Peshawar-bound passenger train in the mountainous Bolan region on March 11, taking hundreds of passengers hostage.
The siege that lasted for two days ended after a military operation that killed 33 militants. The attack, which also claimed the lives of more than 30 Pakistanis, was one of the deadliest train assaults in the country’s history.
The government decided to lodge a police case against protesters who allegedly stormed the mortuary at the Civil Hospital Quetta to get the militants’ bodies and booked 12 individuals on Thursday.

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has urged Pakistanis to take steps to preserve water resources, including glaciers, for a water-secure future of the country, his office said on Saturday, on the World Water Day.
The World Water Day is an annual United Nations (UN) observance held on March 22 each year that highlights the importance of freshwater. The day is used to advocate for sustainable management of freshwater resources across the globe.
In his message, Sharif said the day, being observed under the theme of “Glacier Preservation” this year, reminds them of the critical role glaciers play in sustaining the planet’s freshwater supplies and of the grave challenges in protecting this essential resource.
“Nearly half of the global population experiences water scarcity for at least part of the year. Billions remain without access to clean drinking water, while water pollution continues to rise at alarming levels. Our wetlands are disappearing three times faster than our forests. This is no longer a distant threat. It is a global crisis that demands immediate and collective action,” Sharif was quoted as saying by his office.
“On this World Water Day, let us reaffirm our resolve to preserve our glaciers, protect our water resources, and work together for a resilient, water-secure future— for our people, our region, and our planet.”
There are a total of 13,000 glaciers in Pakistan and nearly 10,000 of them are receding and expected to cause significant water disruptions, according to Pakistani authorities.
The melting of these glaciers at a fast pace and heavy untimely rains due to climate change put the South Asian country at risk of frequent floods, while at the same time, droughts pose an equally serious threat, with nearly 80 percent of Pakistan’s land categorized as arid or semi-arid and 30 percent of population directly affected by drought-like conditions.
Melting glaciers contribute to rising sea levels, another cause of coastal erosion. The sea level at Karachi rose almost 8 inches (almost 20 centimeters) between 1916 and 2016, according to data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. It’s projected to rise another half-inch (about 1.3 centimeters) by 2040.
In areas near the southwestern coastal city of Gwadar, like Pishukan and Ganz, waves have swallowed up mosques, schools, and settlements. There are gashes in the cliffs at the popular picnic spot of Sunset Park and rocks have cascaded onto the shore, while beaches run flat for dozens of kilometers because no structures remain on it.
“Pakistan is among the ten countries most vulnerable to climate change. Our average temperatures are projected to rise faster than the global average,” Sharif said.
“Over three-quarters of our water resources originate outside our borders. That is why Pakistan attaches great importance to transboundary water cooperation.”
He said his government was working to mitigate climate-induced flood risks and reduce drought impacts through ecosystem-based adaptation, and implementing 25 priority interventions from promoting nature-based agriculture and restoring the Indus delta to curbing industrial pollution and investing in green infrastructure.