Baloch activist Sammi Deen Baloch condemns continued detention of BYC leaders

Quetta [Pakistan], May 19 (ANI): Human rights activist Sammi Deen Baloch has strongly condemned the prolonged and allegedly unlawful detention of the leadership of the Baloch Yakjehti Committee (BYC), including Mahrang Baloch.
In a post on X, Sammi raised serious concerns about the state's crackdown on dissent, ongoing enforced disappearances, and extrajudicial killings in Balochistan.
"The leadership of the Baloch Yakjehti Committee has been held in jail unlawfully for nearly two months," Sammi stated. "The judicial response has become increasingly apathetic and disappointing. Protests continue across Balochistan in response to the arrests and the broader human rights violations occurring in the region," stated Sammi.
Sammi highlighted the systematic suppression of dissent and the normalization of state violence.
She said, "The state has normalised enforced disappearances and violence in Balochistan, and is now attempting to legitimise these human rights violations by imprisoning those who raise their voices against such oppression. The judiciary's role in all of this appears less like that of a neutral arbiter and more like that of a silent spectator."
She emphasised that the detained leaders' only "crime" was speaking out against injustice.
"The leaders of the Baloch Yakjehti Committee are being punished for speaking out against state repression. Their only 'crime' is that they refused to remain silent in the face of injustice. But history has shown that silencing voices has never resolved the issue of Balochistan in the past--nor will it do so in the future," stated Sammi.
Sammi also warned of the broader implications of suppressing peaceful political expression.
Sammi expressed, "Through such actions, the state is not only undermining democratic values but also rendering peaceful and constitutional struggle meaningless. When the paths to justice are blocked, public faith in political movements erodes--and this sense of alienation can eventually take a more dangerous shape, potentially giving rise to a new wave of unrest."
Her statement comes amid increasing international scrutiny of the situation in Balochistan, where human rights groups have repeatedly raised alarm over enforced disappearances, unlawful detentions, and a shrinking space for civil society. (ANI)