KARACHI: An anti-terrorism court (ATC) in Karachi has issued a non-bailable arrest warrant for Dr. Mahrang Baloch, leader of the Baloch Yakjehti Committee (BYC), in a sedition case.
Dr. Baloch has been in police custody in Balochistan for the past two months on terrorism and sedition charges. The ATC order described her as an absconder after the investigating officer listed her name in column two of the challan. The judge of ATC No. 5 directed police to arrest her and present her in court on September 5.
The case carries charges under sections 124-A (sedition), 148 (rioting with deadly weapons), 149 (unlawful assembly), 153-A (promoting enmity), 500 (defamation) of the Pakistan Penal Code, and section 7 of the Anti-Terrorism Act 1997.
Her lawyer, Jibran Nasir, told reporters the warrant sought to prolong her detention. He argued that Dr. Baloch remained in remand in Quetta and would be moved to Karachi once that custody ended. He also noted that section 124-A had been struck down by the Lahore High Court as unconstitutional.
Nasir added that the FIR was registered in October 2024 at Quaidabad police station, although witnesses and CCTV footage showed she was elsewhere at the time. He said earlier petitions to quash the case were dismissed and an appeal was pending before the Supreme Court.
Authorities arrested Dr. Baloch, 32, in March after the hijacking of the Jaffar Express. Security forces killed more than two dozen militants in the retaliatory operation. The Balochistan Liberation Army later claimed responsibility for the attack and acknowledged the deaths of its members.
The following day, Dr. Baloch and dozens of supporters staged a protest outside Quetta hospital, demanding the bodies of the slain militants. Protesters attempted to storm the hospital to seize the dead bodies of the terrorists of the Indian proxy the Balochistan Liberation Army.
Police later arrested her and others under the Maintenance of Public Order (MPO). The BLA had also claimed the responsibility and association of the terrorists killed in the operation.
