On October 29, 2025, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Human Rights Defenders, Mary Lawlor, raised alarm over Pakistan’s decision to place several prominent Baloch activists on its terrorist watchlist under Section 11-EE of the Anti-Terrorism Act (ATA) 1997. In a statement shared on X, Lawlor noted that the inclusion of activists such as Sabiha Baloch, Shalee Baloch, and Sammi Deen imposed sweeping restrictions on their ability to carry out human rights work. She stressed that Pakistan’s listing procedure failed to meet international human rights standards.

The warnings came after notifications issued on October 2 and October 16 by the Balochistan Home Department added more than 100 individuals across districts including Khuzdar, Kech, Chagai, Kharan, and Kalat to the Fourth Schedule of the ATA. Those listed are placed under strict surveillance, face travel limitations, and risk having their financial assets investigated or frozen. The process is opaque, and many activists discover their placement on the list only when they attempt to travel or access financial services.

BYC leader Dr. Sabiha Baloch condemned the decision, calling it a dangerous abuse of counterterrorism laws. She argued that, since the Pakistan People’s Party assumed authority in Balochistan, the misuse of anti-terror legislation against political opponents and human rights defenders had sharply increased. She noted that members of the Baloch Women’s Forum, along with dozens of residents from Dera Bugti, Dalbandin, Kech, Khuzdar, Kharan, Kalat, and Chagai, had been subjected to the Fourth Schedule. Placement on the list also results in inclusion on the exit control list, blocking travel outside the country.

The addition of peaceful rights defenders to security watchlists is not unprecedented. In October 2024, the names of BYC leaders Mahrang Baloch and Sibagatullah Shah were also added to the Fourth Schedule. Under their leadership, the BYC spearheaded the Baloch Yakjehti March, a remarkable 1,600-kilometre protest journey from Turbat to Islamabad that drew national and international attention to enforced disappearances and extrajudicial killings in Balochistan.

Such protests have long been a feature of Baloch civil resistance. In November 2023, an alleged fake encounter killing of Balaach Mola Bakhsh by the Counter Terrorism Department triggered another march from Kech District to Islamabad. On July 28, 2024, the BYC organised the Baloch Raaji Muchi (Baloch National Gathering) to denounce what it termed the ongoing Baloch genocide. Meanwhile, a permanent protest camp maintained by Voice for Baloch Missing Persons stood in Quetta for 15 years, symbolising persistent resistance to state abuses.

This longstanding protest camp was dismantled by police on April 17, 2025. The camp had been reactivated by families of political prisoners arrested during March 2025 demonstrations led by Mahrang Baloch. The BYC sharply criticised the dismantling, calling it a grave act of authoritarianism. Many of its core members, including Mahrang Baloch, Shahji Sibghatullah, Bebarg Baloch, Gulzadi Baloch, and Beebow Baloch, remain in detention under the Maintenance of Public Order ordinance.

The tensions had escalated dramatically a month earlier. On March 21, 2025, the BYC held a large protest outside Balochistan University in Quetta in response to the enforced disappearances of two of its members: the wheelchair-bound BYC leader Beebagr Baloch and his brother, Dr. Hammal Baloch. Security forces used force to disperse the protest, resulting in violent clashes that left casualties on both sides. BYC reported that three of its members had been killed and thirteen injured, while the government claimed ten policemen were wounded.

The arrests of leaders followed swiftly. In the early hours of March 22, a police operation led to the detention of Mahrang Baloch and sixteen others. The bodies of those killed during the earlier clashes were seized, preventing the planned sit-in protest on Sariab Road. The next day, a province-wide shutter-down strike brought Balochistan to a halt, with roads blocked, tyres burned, and commercial activity suspended.

The latest wave of Fourth Schedule additions is seen by many Baloch activists as another step in Pakistan’s decades-long policy of suppressing dissent in Balochistan through coercion rather than dialogue. As the insurgency intensifies and public outrage grows over enforced disappearances, extrajudicial killings, and the targeting of human rights defenders, measures such as mass watchlist additions seem likely to inflame rather than resolve the crisis. Instead of addressing long-standing grievances, the state appears committed to a strategy of escalating repression—a trajectory that risks deepening instability and paving the way for further bloodshed.