BNM Chairperson write to global community over 'unlawful' arrest of human rights lawyers in Pakistan

by IANS |

Quetta, Jan 30 (IANS) Baloch National Movement (BNM) Chairman Naseem Baloch has written an open letter to the global community over the recent “unlawful” arrest of Pakistani human rights lawyers Imaan Zainab Mazari-Hazir and Hadi Ali Chatta, describing it as an attack on truth, the legal profession, and all those who dare to speak against state crimes in Pakistan.

This came after a Pakistani court last week reportedly sentenced Imaan and her husband, Hadi, to a combined 17 years in prison on multiple charges in a case linked to social media posts.

In his letter, Naseem wrote, “Pakistan remains a coloniser and occupier of Balochistan, where enforced disappearances, extrajudicial killings, arbitrary detentions, and torture have become a normalised routine. Thousands of Baloch men, women and children have been abducted by Pakistani security forces, many never to return, others found dumped as mutilated bodies. In this landscape of fear, silence is enforced through violence."

Naseem said the human rights lawyer Imaan chose not to be silent and became one of the few voices who consistently spoke for the victims of enforced disappearances—particularly among the oppressed ethnic groups in Pakistan, including Baloch and Pashtun.

“She challenged the impunity of Pakistan’s military and intelligence agencies, questioned unlawful detentions, and stood beside families who have waited years, sometimes decades, for answers about their disappeared loved ones. For this, she is now being punished,” he stated

Similarly, the BNM Chairperson said Hadi’s only “crime” was standing by the law and speaking against the crimes by Pakistani authorities.

“He defended fundamental rights in a system where legality is subordinate to military command. His arrest exposes a grim reality—even lawyers are no longer safe in Pakistan if they refuse to submit to state oppression,” Naseem noted.

Naseem stressed that the incident must be understood in its proper context, noting that human rights violations in Pakistan are not accidental but systematic, particularly in “occupied regions” like Balochistan.

“The arrest of Imaan Mazari and Hadi Chatta is a continuation of the same policy that criminalises dissent, suppresses resistance, and erases the voices of victims,” he added.

Asserting that the silence of the international community is no longer neutrality but complicity, Naseem said, “Pakistan is a signatory to international human rights treaties, yet it openly violates the right to free expression, the right to legal defence, and protection from arbitrary arrest. Human rights defenders are jailed. Journalists are abducted. Lawyers re intimidated. Entire nations within Pakistan’s occupation are treated as slaves.”