• Charges against rights defenders are “political witch-hunt”.
• They are attempts at silencing dissent, says CIVICUS officer.
• The report says journalists have been targeted under Peca.

Pakistan has been added to the CIVICUS Monitor watchlist, which lists countries experiencing rapid declines in civic freedoms, for its government’s criminalising activists, stifling opposition, and minority protests as well as restricting digital spaces.

Pakistan joins United States of America, Democratic Republic of Congo, Italy, and Serbia, in the first watchlist of 2025.

Rating Pakistan’s civic space as ‘repressed’, a press release issued by the CIVICUS Monitor reads: “The government has brought trumped-up charges against human rights defenders for their activism.”

Among those targeted recently include Dr Mahrang Baloch, a leader of the Baloch Yakjehti Committee (BYC). She faces multiple criminal charges including under Anti-Terrorism Act, for organising sit-in across the country and attending gatherings, the press release said.

Human rights lawyer Imaan Zainab Mazari-Hazir was targeted on terrorism charges for actively supporting legal redress for victims of violence and persecution and advocating for rights of persecuted religious and ethnic communities, it added.

In October 2024, the press release said, the government used the Anti-Terrorism Act to ban the Pashtun Tahaffuz Movement (PTM). 

“The charges against human rights defenders like Dr Mahrang Baloch and Imaan Zainab Mazari-Hazir are a political witch-hunt. They are attempts at silencing dissent,” said CIVICUS Advocacy and Campaign Officer for Asia Rajavelu Karunanithi.

“CIVICUS calls on the government to drop these fabricated charges immediately and to revoke the ban against the Pashtun Tahaffuz Movement.”

In October and November 2024, hundreds were arrested and charged ahead of protests under vague and overbroad laws, said the organisation that flags a systematic crackdown on political opposition protests.

“The authorities blocked major highways and routes to stifle the movement of protesters. Protests by the Sindh and Baloch groups were met with suppression by the authorities. These incidents are clear violations of Pakistan’s commitments to uphold civic freedoms.

“Journalists have been targeted under the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act (Peca), accused of spreading ‘false narratives against state institutions’. In January 2025, the government amended Peca to further tighten its control on online speech. The authorities have also continued to block internet and mobile phone services ahead of protests while social media site X has been down since February 2024.”

In October 2024, the UN Human Rights Committee reviewed Pakistan’s record on civil and political rights and urged recommendations to protect civic freedoms.

“The crackdown on protests by the opposition and ethnic minority groups and targeting of journalists and digital restrictions are inconsistent with Pakistan’s international human rights obligations. They also go against the recommendations made by the UN Human Rights Committee.

“The authorities must take steps to reverse course and protect the rights to peaceful assembly and expression and bring perpetrators to justice,” added Karunanithi.