Rights groups slam ban on activist’s US travel

ISLAMABAD: Human rights advocates including Nobel Peace Prize laureate Malala Yousafzai criticised the government of Pakistan on Wednesday for stopping a leading rights activist from Balochistan from travelling to accept a US award.

Mahrang Baloch said officials blocked her from leaving Karachi for New York on Monday night to attend a TIME magazine awards gala.

Malala Yousafzai wrote on social media platform X, “I know this will not deter her (Mahrang) from continuing to speak up and protest peacefully for human rights,” she said.

The Pakistan government says its forces are fighting separatist militants, who target state forces and foreign nationals, in Balochistan.

Baloch said she held a valid US visa but immigration officials in Karachi prevented her from boarding her flight.

She said she was detained for five hours and that her passport and phone were seized, blaming police and the Federal Investigation Agency.

Neither organisation responded immediately to a request for comment.

The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan said blocking Baloch´s travel was “a flagrant violation of her right to freedom of movement and expression”.

UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights Defenders Mary Lawlor said on X she was “very concerned”.

Amnesty International said it was “part of a systematic and relentless clampdown by the Pakistani authorities on peaceful protests and assemblies by dissenting groups”.