ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s Supreme Court on Thursday referred Dr. Mahrang Baloch bail plea to its Practice and Procedure Committee.
A five-member constitutional bench, led by Justice Aminuddin Khan, made the decision during a brief hearing in Islamabad.
Dr. Mahrang Baloch, 32, heads the Baloch Yakjehti Committee (BYC), described by authorities as the political front of the banned Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA). She faces charges of terrorism and sedition.
Her lawyer, Faisal Siddiqui, told the court that a regular bench, not a constitutional one, should hear the case, saying no constitutional interpretation was required.
Justice Amin agreed and ordered the case to be sent to the committee.
Last month, an anti-terrorism court in Quetta denied police a request for further physical remand of Mahrang and other BYC members and placed them on judicial remand.
The BYC leaders were arrested on March 22 this year for attacking Quetta Civil Hospital and inciting violence during a protest demanding the handover of BLA terrorists’ bodies.
The protest followed a deadly hijacking of the Jaffar Express train, after which security forces killed more than two dozen BLA militants involved in the attack. The BLA later confirmed its members were among the dead.
Police later arrested Mahrang Baloch and others under the Maintenance of Public Order law.
The appeal asks the Supreme Court to overturn both her detention and an earlier Balochistan High Court decision requiring petitioners to exhaust administrative remedies before seeking judicial relief.
The Nobel Peace Prize nomination of jailed activist Mahrang Baloch, who is facing trial on treason charges, had sparked debate over transparency in the selection process, amid concerns about her political affiliations and the role of advocacy groups backing her.
