Executive Summary:
- On June 22, a Quetta Anti-Terrorism Court convicted Mahrang Baloch, a prominent non-violent human rights leader, for terrorism and murder, deepening the fracture between Pakistan’s government and the Baloch people.
- The conviction centered on the deaths of security personnel during a 2024 Gwadar protest, despite the court presenting no direct evidence linking her to the killings.
- This case could indicate that Pakistan will use its anti-terrorism framework to silence high-profile political dissidents and internal threats.
The life sentence issued against Mahrang Baloch on June 22 deepens the fracture between Pakistan’s central government and the Baloch population (DW, June 27). The protests following her conviction on charges of terrorism and murder suggest that she retains considerable support and influence among the Baloch people (BBC, June 25; AsiaNews, June 30). Because of the state’s high-profile target, this episode may mark an escalation in the use of Pakistan’s anti-terrorism framework against prominent non-violent political and human-rights leaders.
From Human Rights Activism to National Prominence
Mahrang Baloch leads the Balochistan Yakjehti Committee (BYC), a Pakistani non-violent humanitarian organization that advocates for Balochistan (Amnesty International, July 30, 2024). In particular, the BYC campaigns against enforced disappearances affecting the Baloch population, which are allegedly carried out or enabled by the Frontier Corps (HrcBalochistan.org, May 30; LemkinInstitute.com, August 29, 2025). The Frontier Corps is a Pakistani paramilitary organization stationed in Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and falls under the jurisdiction of Pakistan’s Ministry of Interior (see Terrorism Monitor, March 30, 2007).
Baloch’s involvement in defending human rights began with her father, Ghaffar Baloch Langove, a leader of the Baloch National Party, before he was disappeared in 2011. Shortly after, the young Mahrang began her mobilization, embracing Baloch culture by wearing a traditional black Balochi chador (South Asian Avant-Garde, February 18, 2021).
Another important moment in her political career came in 2020, when Baloch led a protest at Bolan University of Medical and Health Sciences in Quetta. At the time, she emerged as a prominent protest leader at Bolan University of Medical and Health Sciences over increased fees, reduced scholarships, governance problems, and changes to the district quota system, which students argued disadvantaged applicants from poorer areas of Balochistan (Balochistan Voices, February 23, 2020). The abolition of the district quota system therefore seemed to undermine efforts to promote equal educational opportunities for students from low-income backgrounds in Balochistan.
The Gwadar Case and Life Sentence
Between 2023 and 2024, Mahrang’s political activity peaked when she led the “Baloch Long March.” This protest movement sought to end enforced disappearances and other policies affecting the region (Baloch News, March 24, 2025). The following year, she was identified as the central organizer of the BYC and, on July 29, 2024, participants in a BYC protest to highlight “enforced disappearances” clashed with Pakistani security officers in Gwadar, resulting in three deaths (Dawn, July 29, 2024).
The Quetta Anti-Terrorism Court found Mahrang, Sibghatullah Baloch, and other BYC leaders guilty of the murder of security personnel in Gwadar during the July 2024 protests. The court did not present direct evidence of a connection linking Mahrang and Sibghatullah to the Gwadar killings, however (Amnesty International, June 23; GIWPS, July 2). The charges brought against Mahrang and the BYC leadership fell under various sections of the Anti-Terrorism Act and the Pakistan Penal Code even though the organization did not appear on the National Counter Terrorism Authority (NACTA)’s list of banned organizations (Dawn, June 22).
Mahrang’s high-profile conviction may therefore represent a tipping point in Pakistan’s counter-insurgency strategy in Balochistan. Unlike the case of Khaled Baloch, who was killed by Pakistani security forces in 2007, Mahrang’s life sentence for terrorism may represent the use of judicial and counterterrorism mechanisms by the Pakistani state to control and weaken Baloch separatist or dissident efforts to challenge Islamabad (see Militant Leadership Monitor, June 25).
Conclusion
A similar pattern to Mahrang’s case appeared when the Anti-Terrorism Court in Rawalpindi delivered the same terrorism verdict against 47 members of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), the political party founded by Imran Khan (The Express Tribune, March 7). Both political leaders—Khan and Mahrang—accused the central government of failing to provide adequate medical conditions (BBC, February 12). This has fueled speculation about the political factors behind these sentences. The cases of Khan and Mahrang may illustrate a new approach to identifying and limiting internal threats through the politicization of “terrorism,” which highlights the complex relationship between terrorism designations and Pakistan’s domestic policy agendas.
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