03/02/2026
The Baloch Advocacy and Studies Center (BASC) expresses grave concern over the recent public threats made by the Chief Minister of Balochistan, Sarfraz Bugti, to collectively punish the family members of individuals accused of involvement in the Baloch armed resistance.
These remarks followed recent attacks carried out by the Baloch Liberation Army on security forces and government installations across several districts of Balochistan. In a public statement, Sarfraz Bugti declared that the families of those affiliated with armed resistance would “not be allowed to live normal lives,” implying the loss of employment, detention, and denial of access to education, and health facilities.
This language represents a serious abuse of public office. Declaring individuals guilty solely on the basis of kinship is unlawful, unconstitutional, and morally indefensible. Collective punishment violates both Pakistan’s Constitution and fundamental principles of justice and human rights. Targeting non-combatant civilians under the banner of counter-insurgency is not justified under any legal or ethical framework. The duty of the state is to act against individuals accused of crimes through lawful means, not to intimidate, threaten, or punish their families.
This is not an isolated pattern. In our human rights report published last year, BASC documented repeated instances of state retaliation against non-combatant civilians following attacks attributed to Baloch armed resistance groups. These actions stand in stark contrast to the state’s long-standing failure to respond meaningfully to violence carried out by internationally recognised terrorist organisations operating in the region.
In May 2024, following the killing of Allah Rakhiya, a close associate of the Chief Minister, in Sui, Dera Bugti, Sarfraz Bugti publicly blamed Baloch armed resistance groups, despite police confirming that the motive remained unverified. In the aftermath, 29 individuals from Dera Bugti were forcibly disappeared.
By contrast, on 7 February 2024, two coordinated bombings claimed by ISIL killed at least 28 civilians in Pashto-speaking districts of Balochistan, one in Pishin and another in Qilla Saifullah. Despite the scale of these attacks, no comparable retaliatory operations were carried out by the Pakistani military, exposing a troubling double standard in the state’s response to violence.
We take Sarfraz Bugti’s threats seriously, and are deeply concerned that the families of political activists risk facing systematic harassment, detention, intimidation, and collective punishment as a means of silencing voices abroad and suppressing opposition to state abuses in Balochistan. This strategy of coercion through family persecution represents a form of transnational repression and collective punishment that must be condemned.
These actions send a deeply damaging message to the international community and to all those who stand for human rights, democracy, and the rule of law.
This should be of particular concern to British parliamentarians and democratic institutions across Europe that engage with members of the Balochistan provincial government, including Sarfraz Bugti, under programmes of democratic governance and public spending. UK taxpayers’ money should not support officials whose actions directly contradict the principles they claim to uphold.
BASC calls for urgent international scrutiny, and diplomatic accountability mechanisms to prevent further human rights violations and to protect civilians in Balochistan.
