QUETTA, BALOCHISTAN: Senior leader of the Baloch Yakjehti Committee (BYC), Dr. Sabiha Baloch, has strongly condemned the newly introduced system of faceless trials and the continued detention of BYC leaders, calling these judicial proceedings “shameless and unjust trials” in a video statement released recently.
Dr. Sabiha Baloch explained that under the faceless trial system, the accused, their lawyers and their families are unable to see the state prosecutors, witnesses or evidence being presented against them. They are also denied the right to cross-examine witnesses or challenge evidence making it possible for verdicts to be delivered in a completely one-sided manner. She added that BYC’s imprisoned leaders have been protesting against this injustice for the past nine consecutive days.
Commenting on the broader situation in Balochistan, she said the developments raise serious questions about the state’s intentions. Over the past one and a half years, she noted, enforced disappearances have increased, mutilated bodies have been recovered, and raids, operations, looting, burning of homes and humiliation of people continue in the name of security in Balochistan.
Dr. Sabiha Baloch stated that BYC leaders were unlawfully imprisoned for raising their voices against these injustices. She stressed that the committee’s demands are simple and clear stop Baloch genocide, ensure the right to live with dignity, and compel the state to respect its own laws, constitution and legal principles.
She said that these demands are being deliberately misrepresented. The manner in which BYC leaders were detained, false FIRs registered against them, fabricated charges leveled, and misleading narratives promoted through the media, she said, reveals that an entire system has been constructed to sustain what she termed Baloch genocide.
Regarding judicial proceedings, she said that a Prosecutor General who had been promised a promotion to the position of judge pressured the presiding judge to conclude these cases within ten days, using methods that deny the accused any right to question witnesses or challenge evidence.
Dr. Sabiha Baloch also pointed to a case in which a verdict is expected on Monday, describing it as a pressure tactic, and questioned how co-accused could be convicted if the main accused has already been acquitted.
She reaffirmed BYC’s position, stating that the organization has launched a three-day online protest campaign against the faceless trials. She added that BYC leaders do not recognise these proceedings and have the legal right to choose their own legal representation, yet hearings were continued in their absence and lawyers have also been harassed.
Concluding her statement, Dr. Sabiha Baloch urged all civil society groups across Pakistan to raise their voices against these cases and faceless trials. She appealed to journalists, judges, lawyers and civil society members to speak and write about the injustices occurring in Balochistan, warning that silence in the face of injustice makes one equally complicit in the crime.
