GENEVA – United Nations human rights experts expressed grave concern Tuesday over what they described as excessive and harmful impacts of Pakistan’s counter-terrorism efforts in the troubled southwestern province of Balochistan, urging the government to fully adhere to international legal standards.
While acknowledging the threat posed by armed groups in the region, the experts criticized Islamabad’s methods, including enforced disappearances, torture, and internet blackouts, which they said violate international human rights and humanitarian law.
“All measures to counter terrorism must always respect international human rights and humanitarian law,” the experts said. “We urge Pakistan to establish independent and effective search and investigation mechanisms to identify the fate and whereabouts of those forcibly disappeared.”
The experts called enforced disappearances in Balochistan “a serious human rights violation and an international crime” and demanded accountability for perpetrators. They urged Pakistan to ratify the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearances and to recognize the authority of the U.N. Committee on Enforced Disappearances.
According to the statement, Pakistan’s authorities have conflated peaceful protests and minority rights advocacy with terrorism, posing a threat to freedoms of expression, assembly, and association. Repeated internet shutdowns in Balochistan have obstructed access to information and curtailed political participation, the experts said.
They condemned reports of widespread torture, ill-treatment, extrajudicial killings, and the targeting of Baloch human rights defenders, including members of the Baloch Yakjehti Committee. The detention of BYC leaders and actions against their families and lawyers may amount to reprisals for engaging with U.N. human rights mechanisms, they said.
The experts also raised alarms about Pakistan’s Anti-Terrorism Act, calling its definition of terrorism vague and overbroad. The law has reportedly been used to blacklist hundreds of individuals, including students, activists and academics, many of whom have been banned from travel under the “Exit Control List.”
Proposed amendments to Pakistan’s preventive detention laws, including the creation of new internment centers in Balochistan, risk leading to arbitrary detention and further abuses, the experts warned.
“Pakistan must also increase its efforts to address grievances in Balochistan that may fuel violence,” they said, urging the government to address root causes such as discrimination, socio-economic marginalization, and weak rule of law as part of the U.N.’s Global Counter-Terrorism Strategy.
The experts called for a comprehensive review of Pakistan’s counter-terrorism framework to ensure compliance with international human rights obligations.
