Baloch rights activist Sammi Deen Baloch on Sunday claimed immigration officials had stopped her from leaving Pakistan after her name was inserted on the Exit Control List (ECL).
In a post on her social media accounts, Baloch said she was travelling from Karachi to Muscat in Oman. However, at the immigration desk when she presented her passport, the immigration officials (who operate under the immigration wing of the Federal Investigation Agency) refused to stamp it for exit and asked her to step aside.
"FIA officials informed me that my name has been inserted into the Exit Control List (ECL) by the Balochistan government (allegedly)," she claimed in the post, adding that she did not receive any written notice upon being included in the ECL.
She further claimed that she was detained for at least four hours by FIA officials and her movement is being monitored.
The activist added that FIA officials had confiscated her passport and were not showing her any hard evidence that the Balochistan government had inserted her name in the ECL.
The incident comes after the government announced a crackdown on separatist elements who had perpetrated mass attacks against unarmed civilians and law enforcers on August 25 and 26 across the province which left at least 40 people dead, including one incident in which over 20 labourers hailing from Punjab were pulled off a bus, identified based on their ID cards and then executed.
Baloch is a key member of the Baloch civil rights movement, the Baloch Yakjehti Committee (BYC). On Saturday, the BYC issued a detailed statement in which it expressed grave concerns over the government's decision to grant the military sweeping powers in Balochistan to arrest individuals on suspicion and detain them without trial for up to three months.
The BYC claimed that the move was an attempt to justify and grant cover to escalations in actions of law enforcement agencies across the province.
The BYC had claimed that the military already wields such authority in practice and that the enforced disappearance of and extended detention of Baloch is already routine.
They feared that the new legal framework would only further intensify enforced disappearances and violations of human rights.
Security challenges, human rights abuse and political dysfunction
Last week, the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) issued its annual report, State of Human Rights in 2023, in which it called attention to the growing unrest in Balochistan, compounded by deteriorating security, with a reported 110 militant attacks carried out in 2023 alone.
A suicide attack on a police convoy in Bolan claimed the lives of nine police personnel in March 2023, while over 50 people, including civilians, were killed in a suicide attack near a mosque in Mastung in September. In November, six Punjabi labourers were shot dead by unidentified men in Turbat.
As in previous years, HRCP said the practice of enforced disappearances and extrajudicial killings remained a particularly serious concern in the province, with impunity for the perpetrators and indifference on the part of the government.
In November 2023, young Baloch rights activists mobilised around the extrajudicial killing of a Baloch youth and marched from Turbat to Islamabad. They were subjected to harassment, and their right to freedom of peaceful assembly was continually violated in the form of violent police action.
In Gwadar, the Haq Do Tehreek continued to demand action against state-led rights violations, including enforced disappearances and hyper-securitisation.
Freedom of expression remained curtailed, with journalists reluctant to speak out about press restrictions due to fears of retaliation from various actors, including security forces, separatist groups and tribal leaders.
The rule of law in the province remained poor.
In a case that sparked a national outcry, provincial lawmaker Sardar Abdul Rehman Khetran was accused of detaining people in private jails as well as sexually assaulting and killing family members of an employee who had not complied with his wishes.
The grip of the military establishment was seen mirrored in the appointment of Anwaar-ul-Haq Kakar as the caretaker prime minister in August 2023, which many political analysts connected to his previous position within the establishment-backed Balochistan Awami Party (BAP). Local governance issues were exacerbated by the disputed delimitation of local government constituencies, preventing elections in Quetta district, while budget constraints hampered the effectiveness of local governments.
Balochistan continued to witness a high number of mining accidents: at least 36 mine workers were killed and 40 injured in the province during 2023.
In a positive development, however, the Balochistan government decided to give the province's fisherfolk community the status of labour.
Violence against women continued to be reported throughout the year. In one case, a man in Dera Murad Jamali killed his teenage daughter for refusing a marriage match, while in another instance, a teenage girl was sentenced to death by a local jirga in Chagai after being accused of 'illegal' relations with a man.