ISLAMABAD: The family of a detained Pakistani Baloch rights activists, Dr. Mahrang Baloch, filed a petition in Pakistan’s Supreme Court on Wednesday, seeking to overturn a provincial court ruling that upheld her arrest under public order laws, according to a local media report.

Baloch, a physician and a civil society activists, has been held at Quetta’s Hudda District Jail since March 22 after she participated in protests following a separatist militant attack on a passenger train in Balochistan.

She was arrested under the Maintenance of Public Order (MPO) law, a move her supporters described as part of a broader crackdown on nonviolent dissent in the restive province.

The petition, filed by her sister, argues that the detention is arbitrary and aimed at silencing peaceful activism.

“Nadia Bal­och, the sister of Dr. Mah­­rang Baloch, urged the Supreme Court on Wed­­nesday to set aside the April 15 order of the Balo­ch­istan High Court that rej­ected the plea against her detention under the Main­tenance of Public Order,” the English-language newspaper Dawn quoted from the petition.

The detained activist, who leads the Baloch Yakjehti Committee, also published a letter from prison in the US-based Time magazine this week, in which she asserted that “speaking up for justice is not a crime.”
Pakistani authorities have accused Baloch of promoting the narrative of separatist groups like the Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA) in public. However, her letter in the American magazine maintained the officials had not provided any evidence of her links with BLA or any other militant group while criticizing the authorities for blurring the line between militancy and peaceful protest.

Earlier this year, the Balochistan High Court dismissed Baloch’s initial challenge to her detention, advising her to seek administrative remedies instead of judicial relief.

Her sister’s petition has now asked the apex court to suspend that ruling and review whether constitutional protections such as habeas corpus were ignored in the previous judicial decision.
The Supreme Court has yet to announce when it will take up the case for hearing.
 

ISLAMABAD: Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif arrived in the United Arab Emirates on Thursday for talks with UAE President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan on a “range of bilateral, regional and global issues,” a statement from the Prime Minister’s Office said. 

Sharif’s last visit to the UAE was in February to attend the World Government Summit in Dubai and meet President Sheikh Mohamed.

The latest visit marks another step in Islamabad’s ongoing efforts to deepen strategic ties with Gulf partners, particularly as Pakistan looks to attract foreign investment and bolster regional economic integration.

“Sharif will hold high-level meetings with the UAE leadership, including a bilateral meeting with President of the UAE and Ruler of Abu Dhabi,” the PM’s office said. 

“A wide range of bilateral, regional and global issues of mutual interest and concern will be discussed during the high-level interactions.”

The statement added that the visit would serve to “further strengthen the longstanding brotherly relations between Pakistan and the UAE, deepen economic ties, and foster multifaceted collaboration.”

Pakistan and the UAE maintain close cooperation across a broad range of areas including trade, investment, energy, defense, and diaspora engagement. Approximately 1.5 million Pakistanis reside in the UAE, the second largest expatriate group after Indians. It is also the second largest source of remittances to Pakistan after Saudi Arabia, sending $754.2 million home in May, according to central bank data released this week. 

The UAE is one of Pakistan’s largest trading partners in the Gulf and a major source of foreign remittances. High-level exchanges between the two nations have increased in recent years, with both countries expressing interest in expanding collaboration in renewable energy, infrastructure development, and regional security.

In May 2024, the UAE said it had committed $10 billion to invest in promising economic sectors in Pakistan. The investment pledge came after a meeting between Sharif, then on a two-day visit to the UAE, and President Sheikh Mohamed.

Pakistan needs foreign investment to boost its economy and shore up its currency reserves to meet rising external repayment obligations as it treads a tricky path to economic recovery under a $7 billion IMF bailout deal.

The latest UAE visit also comes weeks after Pakistan engaged in its worst military conflict in decades with arch-rival India, in which the two nations exchanged drones, missiles, and artillery strikes between May 7-10 before a ceasefire was announced. Though the US was the main broker, it is believed that Gulf partners like Saudi Arabia and UAE also mediated in the crisis.