Pakistan's media machinery turns weaponised as Baloch voices warn of escalating repression

Balochistan [Pakistan], January 16 (ANI) In a sharp denunciation of state policies, Nadia Baloch, sister of imprisoned Baloch Yakjehti Committee (BYC) leader Mahrang Baloch, has accused the Pakistani state of orchestrating what she described as an "engineered media onslaught" to undermine Baloch dissent.
She said the state had transformed media platforms into tools for silencing human rights activism and student mobilisation across Balochistan, as reported by The Balochistan Post.
According to The Balochistan Post, Nadia stated that enforced disappearances target Baloch youth, and an increasing number of women have surged, even as "fabricated storylines" circulate across mainstream outlets. She noted that these narratives are being pushed deliberately to delegitimise families and activists demanding accountability for long-standing abuses.
Nadia stressed that censorship in Balochistan was not a new phenomenon, but warned that the current phase represented a far more "systematic and dangerous" form of control. Mainstream news organisations, she said, were being manipulated to rationalise what she termed "intensifying state violence", while the everyday realities of Baloch communities remained absent from national coverage.
She further alleged that after tightening control over television and print media, authorities have shifted focus to online spaces. Nadia described the targeting of Baloch activists' social media accounts as an "alarming escalation". According to her, this expansion of repression was aimed at shutting down one of the few remaining platforms for Baloch voices.
Calling it a "coordinated disinformation scheme", she argued that the state was actively concealing enforced disappearances, extrajudicial practices, and other serious violations, all while projecting misleading narratives to the global community. Nadia said Baloch activists now carry a greater responsibility to counter these tactics by using media platforms effectively and ensuring the United Nations and international rights groups are kept informed. She urged them not to allow the world to become a "silent spectator" to what she termed ongoing abuses, as highlighted by The Balochistan Post.
Her remarks follow recent allegations by the BYC, which accused Pakistan's military information wing of conducting "media trials" to normalise enforced disappearances. State institutions were circulating "scripted propaganda" to justify intensifying crackdowns in the province, as reported by The Balochistan Post. (ANI)