Amnesty International has urged Pakistan to release detained activists and journalist Ahmad Farhad, raising concerns over the alleged misuse of administrative detention laws. Rights groups warn that the crackdown threatens freedom of expression, peaceful assembly, and fundamental human rights across Pakistan.
International concern is growing over Pakistan’s continued use of administrative detention laws against peaceful activists, journalists, and human rights defenders after leading global rights organisations demanded the immediate release of several individuals detained under controversial legal provisions.
Amnesty International has called on the Pakistani authorities to immediately release Pashtun leader Zubair Shah Agha, Baloch activist Syed Bibi Baloch, and journalist Ahmad Farhad, while urging the government to end what it described as the misuse of administrative detention laws to suppress peaceful dissent. The organisation stressed that the rights to liberty, freedom of expression, and peaceful assembly must be protected in accordance with international human rights standards.
According to Amnesty International, Zubair Shah Agha, a core committee member of the Pashtun Tahaffuz Movement (PTM), was detained on June 28 after attending a press conference organised by the Baloch Yakjehti Committee (BYC) in Quetta. The event focused on the sentencing of prominent Baloch human rights activist Mahrang Baloch. Since his arrest, Agha has reportedly remained in administrative detention under Section 3 of Pakistan’s Maintenance of Public Order (MPO) Ordinance, a legal provision that allows preventive detention based on the government’s assessment of potential threats to public order.
Amnesty International stated that Agha’s detention reflects a broader pattern in which administrative detention laws are allegedly being used to arbitrarily deprive activists, journalists, and human rights defenders of their liberty without adequate legal safeguards.
The rights organisation also highlighted the arrest of Syed Bibi Baloch, who was reportedly taken into administrative detention under the MPO on July 1 in the Turbat region of Balochistan. Her detention came after a peaceful protest was announced concerning the sentencing of Mahrang Baloch.
According to the Baloch Yakjehti Committee, Bibi was arrested from her residence in Kech district by Pakistan’s Counter Terrorism Department (CTD) without legal justification. The committee stated that although her name had been placed on the Fourth Schedule of Pakistan’s Anti-Terrorism Act, she had been regularly reporting to CTD authorities each week in compliance with official directives.
The Human Rights Council of Balochistan (HRCB) also expressed serious concern over her detention, describing it as part of an ongoing pattern of harassment, intimidation, and reprisals against peaceful activists in the region. Several international human rights organisations have criticised the arrest, warning that it represents an escalation in the crackdown on peaceful civil society voices.
Meanwhile, journalist Ahmad Farhad remains in detention after reportedly being held under the MPO since June 20 in Bagh, located in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK). Amnesty International and other rights organisations have expressed concern that his detention is linked to his journalistic work and advocacy for human rights.
Last week, Ireland-based human rights organisation Front Line Defenders also called on Pakistani authorities to immediately release Farhad and withdraw all charges against him. The organisation alleged that he has been targeted for his legitimate reporting and human rights activities in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir.
Front Line Defenders further stated that the ongoing repression in PoK is not an isolated incident but forms part of a wider pattern of violence and intimidation against individuals who expose alleged human rights violations and challenge official narratives. The organisation noted that independent journalists remain particularly vulnerable because of their efforts to report from the ground and counter misinformation.
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Human rights groups continue to urge Pakistan to uphold its international obligations by ensuring due process, protecting civil liberties, and ending the use of preventive detention laws against individuals engaged in peaceful activism and independent journalism.
