ISLAMABAD: A leading international human rights organisation has urged the Pakistani authorities to immediately release Pashtun leader Zubair Shah Agha, Baloch female activist Syed Bibi Baloch and journalist Ahmad Farhad, while calling for an end to the misuse of administrative detention laws against peaceful dissent and the protection of rights to liberty, freedom of expression and peaceful assembly.
According to Amnesty International, Zubair Shah Agha, a core committee member of the Pashtun Tahaffuz Movement (PTM), was arbitrarily detained on June 28 after attending a press conference organised by the Baloch Yakjehti Committee (BYC) in Quetta over the sentencing of Baloch human rights activist Mahrang Baloch.
It noted that he has since been held in administrative detention under section 3 of Pakistan’s Maintenance of Public Order Ordinance (MPO), a law that allows "preventative detention" based on the government's assessment of "potential threats to public order".
“Zubair Agha's detention is the latest in a growing pattern of Pakistani authorities using administrative detention powers to arbitrarily deprive activists, journalists and human rights defenders of their liberty,” Amnesty International stated.
The rights body further said that Baloch activist Syed Bibi Baloch was taken into administrative detention under MPO on July 1 in the Turbat region of Balochistan after a peaceful protest was announced regarding Mahrang’s sentencing.
Following Bibi’s arrest by Pakistani forces, several other leading human rights organisations sharply criticised the move, describing it as part of an escalating crackdown on peaceful activists and "Pakistani fascism".
According to the BYC, Bibi was arrested by Pakistan's Counter Terrorism Department (CTD) on July 1 from her residence in Kech district without any legal justification. It said that although her name had been placed on the Fourth Schedule of Pakistan's Anti-Terrorism Act, for the past few months she had been regularly reporting to the CTD office every week in compliance with the authorities' directives.
Expressing grave concern over the continued escalation of reprisals against peaceful activists in Balochistan, the Human Rights Council of Balochistan (HRCB) said that Bibi's arrest is part of a "sustained pattern of harassment and intimidation" targeting her in the past few years.
Furthermore, Amnesty International highlighted that journalist Ahmad Farhad was also detained under MPO on June 20, in Bagh city of Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK), where he remains in custody.
Last week, Ireland-based rights group Front Line Defenders also called on the Pakistani authorities to immediately release journalist Farhad and withdraw all charges against him, alleging that he is being targeted for his legitimate reporting and human rights work in PoK.
The organisation strongly condemned the repression in PoK, saying the crackdown is not an isolated incident but part of a broader pattern of violence against individuals who speak out against authorities and seek to end impunity for human rights violations.
It said that journalists such as Farhad are especially vulnerable as they challenge state-sponsored misinformation and report independently from the ground.
--IANS
