The Human Rights Council of Balochistan strongly denounces the Anti-Terrorism (Balochistan Amendment) Act, 2025, recently passed by the Balochistan Assembly. This legislation represents an alarming escalation in the erosion of civil liberties, the suppression of dissent, and the continued militarization of civilian space in Balochistan. The amendment grants sweeping and unchecked powers to the Counter Terrorism Department (CTD), allowing it to detain individuals without trial for up to 90 days, conduct raids and arrests without warrants, and unilaterally designate civilians as threats under vague and broadly defined criteria.
It legalizes practices that already have a deeply disturbing precedent in Balochistan—enforced disappearances, custodial torture, and extrajudicial killings—by embedding them into the province’s legal framework under the guise of counter-terrorism. Particularly disturbing is the provision for the establishment of so-called “de-radicalization and re-education centers,” which bear a striking resemblance to China’s repressive internment camps in Xinjiang, notorious for indoctrination, forced ideological compliance, and cultural erasure. These facilities are not centers of rehabilitation but tools of coercive assimilation, and their introduction in Balochistan marks a dangerous precedent for authoritarian governance.
The bill’s emphasis on psychological assessment of detainees also raises serious concerns, as it suggests a troubling path toward criminalizing dissent through pseudoscientific and invasive methods that could lead to further violations of personal autonomy and human dignity. The Act, rather than addressing root causes of unrest, institutionalizes impunity and paves the way for further violence, fear, and the deepening of state-citizen mistrust in Balochistan.
It effectively grants the state a legal weapon to silence critics, intimidate activists, and target students, journalists, and ordinary citizens, many of whom have already faced years of brutal repression. This legislation must be seen in the wider context of systematic state violence in Balochistan, where enforced disappearances and collective punishment have become normalized.
The HRCB urges the immediate repeal of this draconian amendment and calls upon Pakistan’s civil society, media, judiciary, and international human rights bodies to unequivocally condemn this bill. It is imperative to stand against laws that not only legitimize abuse but also criminalize basic freedoms. Justice, accountability, and the protection of human rights must remain central to any legal and political framework in Balochistan, and this amendment does the opposite—it institutionalizes the machinery of oppression.
