Balochistan: A Land of Struggles and Resistance

Balochistan, Pakistan’s largest province by land (but least populated) is a land of stark contradictions. The Province is rich with natural resources ranging from gold, copper, barite, coal, oil and natural gas but its people suffer from poverty and underdevelopment. It is also geopolitically significant but remains one of the most neglected, militarized zones in South Asia. It has a great history of resistance to colonial rule, forced annexation, and now to the persistent oppression of the Pakistani state.

Balochistan was forced into joining Pakistan in 1948 after it was once an autonomous region of the Khanate of Kalat. Since then, the province has been perpetually embroiled in political and civil wars which were brutally suppressed whenever it wishes autonomy or even independence. In an effort to control the region, the  Pakistani State undertakes economic exploitation and military interventions and a campaign of enforced disappearances whose terror has terrorized the local population. Hence, in this suffocating place, voices like that of Mahrang Baloch have come up not only as dissenting voices, but as the symbols of an upsurge of justice and self determination.

The Legacy of Oppression and Enforced Disappearances

The Baloch have suffered state-sponsored violence for a long time. Journalists, activists and even ordinary citizens who dare to challenge the state’s policies, are often abducted, tortured, sometimes even killed. Thousands have vanished without any trace, and their families have been left to grieve in perpetual silence, afraid to ask questions or demand for answers. According to reports, over 5,000 Baloch people have been forcibly disappeared between 2009 and 2022. These abductions, alleged to be conducted by the military and intelligence agencies have caused widespread outrage.

In response to this ongoing repression, a new wave of resistance has come into being and at its head is Mahrang Baloch. Her activism has lent the families of the disappeared a voice and demands from a state that will not face up to its own crimes. Her courage in the face of threats, intimidation and even detention has turned her into a symbol of defiance of oppression.

Mahrang Baloch: A Revolutionary Activist

Born in 1993, Mahrang Baloch’s journey into activism was not by choice but by necessity. The abduction of her father when she was just 16 thrust her into the struggle for justice. Her commitment to human rights was further solidified later when her brother was detained in 2017. Since then, she has become one of the most vocal voices against the exploitation of Balochistan’s resources and the clear human rights violations perpetrated on its people.

Her activism has been relentless. She led a successful protest in 2020 against the removal of a quota system at Bolan Medical College to protect access to education for students from remote parts. Her work has been recognized internationally, her name was included in BBC’s 100 Women in 2024, was featured in Time magazine’s 100 Next Emerging Leaders in 2024 and she was even nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize in 2025. Her rise, however, has been accompanied by a cost. On March 22, 2025, she was detained after a sit-in protest in Balochistan turned deadly. Her arrest only reinforced the urgent need for international scrutiny of Pakistan’s treatment of Baloch activists.

Radical Citizenship: Challenging the Status Quo

Mahrang Baloch’s activism could be defined as a notion of radical citizenship, a denial of the belief that citizenship is only about legal status and passive involvement in the affairs of a state. Instead, radical citizenship is about resistance, about actively challenging oppressive systems, and about redefining what justice and governance should look like.

The term “radical citizenship” was introduced by scholars Isin and Turner in 2002, referring to the practice of challenging power structures that exclude or oppress marginalized communities. Radical citizenship in Mahrang’s case involves denouncing the state’s violent suppression, seeking justice for the disappeared, and championing an alternative, human rights and autonomous government vision.

Her activism does not stop at protesting enforced disappearances. On other occasions, she has also vehemently opposed the economic exploitation of Balochistan’s resources, particularly the China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) that has forced local communities to leave their own lands. She has also opposed gender based discrimination by fighting for the rights of the Baloch women in both political and academic spaces.

The Women-Led Protest for Justice

One of the most defining moments of Mahrang Baloch’s activism was the March Beyond Silence, a protest that began in December 2024. This march was led by Mahrang together with the Baloch Yakjehti Committee (BYC) to address the systemic oppression that affected the Baloch population. Beginning in Turbat it stretched across 1,600 kilometers until it reached Islamabad, raising public awareness of Pakistan's military and security agencies' excessive power.

This protest gained its distinct quality from the fact that women led it despite their previous marginalization in political activism. Throughout decades Baloch men conducted protests but most ended up being abducted or violently silenced. A large number of women led this protest because many had experienced loss of male relatives during the previous conflicts. The leadership role they played made it more challenging for the state to use violent suppression as a justification but they still faced tear gas attacks, roadblocks as well as mass arrest.

Soon after the killing of Mola Bakhsh, a 24 year old tailor claimed to have been executed by the Counter Terrorism Department (CTD), the movement gained great momentum. Following his death, the protest turned into an even bigger movement against state repression which helped to trigger widespread outrage. Despite being dismissed by Prime Minister Anwaarul Haq Kakar as “advocates of terrorists,” the protestors persisted. Eventually, the Supreme Court had to intervene and agreed that they have the right to assemble: a rare feat in a state that often met dissent with brutality.

The Global Significance of Mahrang Baloch’s Struggle

Mahrang Baloch’s struggle is not exclusively for Balochistan but rather a part of greater, global fight against authoritarianism, in relation to enforced disappearances, and state violence. And her advocacy has pointed parallels to movements in Kashmir, Palestine, even Latin American countries, where disappearances are used as a tool to oppress people. Mahrang has managed to align the local resistance of the Baloch people to global movements of justice, so that the Baloch plight does not go unnoticed at the international stage.

Her engagement with organizations such as Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch has resulted in much needed global attention to Pakistan’s human rights violations. She has put Balochistan’s struggle in a much bigger context of global human rights abuses and compelled the world to open its eyes to the crisis taking place in the most backward and neglected province of Pakistan, Balochistan.

The Road Ahead: Hope Amidst Repression

Mahrang Baloch continues to remain undeterred despite facing arrests, threats and state violence. A new generation of Baloch youth channelled by her activism have begun to demand justice, to resist oppression and to imagine a life in which their voices will not be further silenced. What she has helped move is now bigger than any one person: it is a collective call for dignity, justice, and self determination.

The Pakistani state may still continue to suppress dissent but history has shown that it only serves to raise the thermometer of resistance. The BYCs and Mahrang’s protests have already redefined the discourse on Balochi rights.

Mahrang Baloch’s story is that of resistance, the bravery of those who dare not to be silenced and the relentless struggle for justice amidst oppression. Her struggle is not only of Balochistan but of human rights everywhere, and the world must pay attention!