Human rights abuses in Balochistan

The Pakistani province of Balochistan has been accused of practicing human rights violations amidst the ongoing insurgency in Balochistan. The situation has drawn concern from the international community. The human rights situation in Balochistan is credited to the long-running conflict between Baloch nationalists (as well as Baloch terrorist groups such as the Balochistan Liberation Army) and Pakistani security forces.

Brad Adams, director of the HRW Asia Branch, said that the Pakistani government has not done enough to stop the widespread human rights abuses in the region, which include torture, forced disappearances of those suspected of either terrorism or opposition to the Pakistani military, ill treatment of captured combatants or criminals, and extrajudicial killings. Separatist militants have also committed widespread abuse. According to Human Rights Watch (HRW), Baloch separatist militants are responsible for several attacks on schools, teachers, and students in the province with the aim of ethnically cleansing the province.

As of 2018, per The New York Times, the Pakistani deep-state was using Islamist militants to attack Baloch separatists. Academics and journalists in the United States have been approached by Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) spies, who warned them not to speak about the insurgency in Balochistan or human rights abuses committed by the Pakistan Army, while also threatening to harm them or their families should they continue to investigate the conflict.