QUETTA: Government on Sunday charged a Baloch rights activist with terrorism, sedition and murder after she led a demonstration which ended in the death of three protesters, according to police documents.
Mahrang Baloch, one of most prominent human rights advocates, has long campaigned for the Baloch ethnic group, which claims it has been targeted by Islamabad with harassment and extrajudicial killings.
On Friday, she and other activists took part in a sit-in protest outside the University of Balochistan in the provincial capital of Quetta.
They demanded the release of members of their support group, whom they allege had been detained by security agencies.
Police launched a pre-dawn raid on Saturday, arresting Baloch and other activists, during which at least three protestors died. Both sides blamed each other for the deaths.
Mary Lawlor, the United Nations special rapporteur on human rights defenders, said she was “very concerned” at Baloch’s arrest.
Baloch and other protesters have been charged with terrorism, sedition and murder, according to the police charge sheet seen by AFP.
Hamza Shafqaat, a senior administrative official in Quetta, said that Baloch and other activists were held under public order laws.
Her lawyer, Imran Baloch, confirmed she was detained in a jail in Quetta.
Baloch was barred from travelling to the United States last year to
attend a TIME magazine awards gala of “rising leaders”.
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