QUETTA: Jailed activist Mahrang Baloch, a leading campaigner for Pakistan’s Baloch minority, has ended a hunger strike after a court asked authorities to justify her detention, her lawyer told AFP on Tuesday.
Mahrang Baloch, 32, was arrested last month on charges of terrorism, sedition and murder.
Security forces are battling a growing insurgency in her native Balochistan, an impoverished province that borders Afghanistan and Iran.
Rights groups say the violence has been countered with a severe crackdown that has swept up innocent people.
Mahrang and four other detained activists from her organization, the Baloch Yakjehti Committee (BYC), had stopped eating on Thursday in protest against alleged misconduct by police and ill-treatment the activists claim to have been subjected to in detention.
The judiciary has declined to rule on Mahrang’s detention for more than a month, effectively halting any appeal and placing the matter solely in the hands of the provincial government.
But the Balochistan High Court agreed on Monday to consider an application to overturn her administrative detention, her lawyer Imran Baloch told AFP. Mahrang’s detention was renewed for a second month a week ago.
“Petition got admitted by high court and notices were issued to government,” the lawyer said, adding that a hearing was scheduled for Wednesday.
Mahrang and the other activists agreed to end their hunger strike after meeting with her family and lawyers on Monday, Imran Baloch said.
A group of 13 UN human rights experts expressed concern on Tuesday over the detention of BYC leaders and their supporters.
“Pakistan appears to conflate legitimate human and minority rights advocacy and public demonstrations with terrorism, threatening freedoms of expression, assembly, and association,” the independent experts, who are appointed by the United Nations Human Rights Council, said in a statement.
They also noted the ban on several Baloch activists from leaving the country, which includes Mahrang.
A dozen UN experts called on Pakistan last month to immediately release Baloch rights advocates, including Mahrang, and to end the repression of their peaceful protests.
For two decades, members of the Baloch minority have denounced extrajudicial killings, forced disappearances and arbitrary arrests in Balochistan — Pakistan’s most resource-rich province, where 70 percent of inhabitants are poor.
Pakistani authorities say the accusations are unfounded.
Insurgents in Balochistan accuse outsiders of plundering the province’s natural resources and launched a dramatic train siege in March, during which officials said about 60 people were killed.
Detained Pakistan rights activist ends hunger strike
https://arab.news/w3725
Detained Pakistan rights activist ends hunger strike
- Mahrang Baloch, 32, was arrested last month on charges of terrorism, sedition and murder
- The judiciary has declined to rule on Baloch’s detention for over a month, halting any appeal
Pakistan top court appoints senior lawyer to inspect Imran Khan’s jail conditions
- Top court names ‘friend of the court’ amid renewed concerns over ex-PM’s health
- Move follows dispute over jail access to Khan, questions over his treatment in custody
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s Supreme Court on Tuesday appointed a senior lawyer as a “friend of the court” to visit jailed former prime minister Imran Khan and submit a report on his current living conditions, following renewed concerns raised by his family and party about his health and treatment in prison.
The decision came a day after the court declined a request by Latif Khosa, a lawyer affiliated with Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party, to meet the former premier without prior notice to the government. The court later issued a notice to the government and resumed hearings on the matter on Tuesday.
According to a copy of the court order seen by Arab News, the Supreme Court appointed Barrister Salman Safdar, Advocate Supreme Court, to carry out the inspection.
“Barrister Salman Safdar, ASC, is appointed as a friend of the Court to visit the petitioner at the Central Prison, Rawalpindi today and submit a written report regarding the ‘living conditions of the petitioner in jail,’” the order said.
The court noted that a report on Khan’s prison conditions had already been submitted in response to an earlier order, but that it related to his detention in 2023 at Attock jail and did not reflect his current incarceration.
“In this regard, a report regarding the present living conditions of the petitioner shall be submitted,” the order said.
The attorney general assured the court that Safdar would be granted full access to meet Khan and inspect his detention conditions.
“Barrister Salman Safdar, ASC, shall be provided full access to meet the petitioner and inspect his living conditions,” the order added, directing that the report be submitted by Wednesday.
Speaking to reporters after the hearing, Safdar, who has represented Khan in the past, said the court had entrusted him with an independent responsibility.
“The court has assigned me a duty as a friend of the court, which we refer to as amicus, in which the court places its trust and confidence in you,” he said.
He added that he would visit Khan at 2pm on Tuesday at Rawalpindi’s Adiala Prison.
Khan, who was removed from office through a parliamentary vote of no confidence in April 2022, has been in custody since August 2023 in a series of cases that he and his party say are politically motivated, an allegation the government denies.
Concerns over Khan’s health resurfaced last month after the government confirmed that he had been briefly taken from prison to a hospital in Islamabad for an eye procedure. Authorities said his condition was stable, while PTI leaders said they were not informed in advance and demanded greater transparency.
Khan and his wife, Bushra Bibi, have been convicted in multiple corruption cases. In January 2025, an accountability court sentenced Khan to 14 years in prison in the Al-Qadir Trust land corruption case. In December 2025, a special court handed Khan and Bibi 17-year sentences each in the Toshakhana-2 case involving alleged misuse of state gifts. Appeals in both cases are ongoing.
Khan insists all cases are political motivated and aimed at keeping him and his party out of power. The government rejects the allegation.
