Mahrang Baloch, the leader of a peaceful resistance movement in Balochistan, was arrested by authorities in Pakistan about a fortnight ago. The arrest indicates a growing anxiety within the Pakistani establishment that the political situation in Balochistan is spiraling out of control.
The arrest has deepened discontent in the restive Balochistan province, and Mahrang Baloch’s continued detention further undermines the legitimacy of the state apparatus. Unsurprisingly, there were protests and shutdowns in various parts of the province in response to Mahrang’s detention.
Questions are being raised about the legality of Mahrang’s arrest under the Maintenance of Public Order, which is often used against drug traffickers and terrorists. Family members are reportedly finding it difficult to visit Mahrang in prison despite the court granting permission for such visits. There are growing concerns that her health will deteriorate in prison.
Mahrang’s arrest is part of a larger crackdown that Pakistan authorities are carrying out against members of the Baloch Yakjehti Committee (BYC), which is spearheading a non-violent resistance campaign against the violation of human rights by Pakistan’s security forces in Balochistan.
A mineral-rich province, Balochistan is an economically backward region. There is mass discontent and anger that the wealth generated from the exploitation of the province’s resources has not been shared with the local Baloch people. In addition, the historical memory of the forceful integration of the province into Pakistan continues to animate the conversations among the Baloch. The highly centralized rule of Islamabad has further accentuated the perception that the Baloch people are not in control of their destiny. The province, which has witnessed multiple insurgencies over the past few decades, has once again become restive, with regular skirmishes between Baloch insurgents and Pakistan’s security forces.
To quell the activities of Baloch militant groups, Pakistan’s security forces have often resorted to illegal detentions and extrajudicial killings (referred to as enforced disappearances). In fact, a Commission of Inquiry on Enforced Disappearances, constituted by the government, has received over 10,000 such cases. For years now, Mahrang and her colleagues have campaigned relentlessly against enforced disappearances and also demanded that the government improve the living standards of the people of Balochistan.
The Exemplars
For over a decade, Mahrang has been courageously articulating the concerns of the vulnerable. There is speculation that she has been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize, but the veracity of such a claim is difficult to ascertain. Nonetheless, the Baloch people will view such an award as a validation and recognition by the international community of their struggles.
There are interesting parallels between Mahrang’s activism and the work of many women Nobel laureates in Asia and beyond. In neighboring Iran, Shirin Ebadi conducted a sustained campaign against the misuse of law by state authorities and extrajudicial killings. In the Philippines, Maria Ressa worked tirelessly to expose the extrajudicial killings perpetrated by the government in its war on drugs. In Liberia, amidst the resource-conflict dynamic, Leymah Gbowee mobilized women to end the lengthy civil war in the country. Similarly, Mahrang has launched a women-led non-violent campaign against illegal detentions, enforced disappearances and other human rights violations. In 2023, she led the historic “Baloch Long March,” during which hundreds of women from families of victims of enforced disappearances traveled a distance of 1,600 km from Turbat in Balochistan to Pakistan’s capital city, Islamabad.
Mahrang’s life experiences share remarkable similarities with those of Rigoberta Menchú Tum, who was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1992 for her efforts to protect the rights of native Mayan people in Guatemala. Rigoberta’s father, mother and brother were subjected to illegal detentions and were subsequently killed by the security forces. Mahrang’s activism is a consequence of not only economic and political injustices meted out to her community but also stems from her personal experiences. Her father, Abdul Ghaffar Langove, a Baloch activist, was abducted, and later, his body was found with bullet wounds, and her brother was subjected to detention. Mahrang’s detention prompts us to wonder whether she might also be subjected to prolonged incarceration like Aung San Suu Kyi in Myanmar.
Challenges
Baloch activists will have to surmount many challenges to get sustained international support. They constitute a small minority in Pakistan, and consequently, their diasporic presence is also relatively thin. While Balochistan is endowed with rich mineral resources, the Baloch people neither have significant economic resources nor do they have a commanding presence in other sectors, such as media, which would have helped them narrate their story effectively. Further, Baloch leaders such as Mahrang do not have a history of graduating from prominent Western educational institutions. Consequently, their ability to build coalitions of support and allies in the leading institutions of the developed world is limited. In the absence of financial resources and global networking opportunities, the Baloch organizations have very few means at their disposal to mount international campaigns.
There is also very little support for Mahrang and BYC’s women-led resistance movement in the neighborhood. The Taliban in Afghanistan would find the very idea of supporting a women-led movement repulsive. In Iran, the government is at loggerheads with the women’s movement calling for the repeal of discriminatory laws. Consequently, Tehran will hesitate to celebrate a women’s movement in a neighboring country.
In the absence of geographic continuity, there are serious limitations to India’s ability to extend support to the resistance movement in Balochistan. The Baloch experience demonstrates that international support for people’s movements, even in the age of social media, continues to be contingent on factors such as the availability of financial resources, transnational social networks, and geopolitical dynamics.
Perhaps it is time for women’s movements worldwide to recognize the courage and tenacity of Baloch women and nudge the Pakistan government to initiate honest dialogue with Mahrang and her colleagues. The women’s movement provides a safe path for the government of Pakistan to explore the possibilities of a negotiated settlement in Balochistan. It remains to be seen if the government of Pakistan will take such a prudent path.
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The views expressed here are personal.