Karachi police book Mahrang Baloch in terrorism case

Karachi: The Karachi police registered a terrorism case against rights activist Dr Mahrang Baloch over allegedly inciting people by levelling allegations against security institutions, it was revealed on Saturday.

Baloch, who represents the Baloch Yakjehti Committee (BYC), has organised various sit-ins and protests in the past few months over enforced disappearances in Balochistan.

On Tuesday, immigration authorities at Karachi’s Jinnah International Airport had barred Baloch from boarding a flight to New York, where she was scheduled to attend a Time magazine function. She vowed to challenge the government’s decision to impose restrictions on her foreign travel in courts.

Malir district’s Quaidabad police lodged the FIR on the complaint of a local resident named Asad Ali Shams, who claimed that Baloch was inciting violence in his area.

Section 7 (punishment for acts of terrorism) of the Anti-Terrorism Act (ATA) 1997 and sections 148 (rioting, armed with deadly weapon), 149 (every member of unlawful assembly guilty of offence committed in prosecution of common object), 124-A (‘sedition law’), 153-A (promotion of enmity between groups), 500 (punishment for defamation) and 505 (statement conducing to public mischief) of the Pakistan Penal Code were incorporated in the FIR.