Three women, one name, and the label that wouldn't come off

In August of 2024, a face went viral on social media. Mahal Baloch’s photos—labelled ‘terrorist suicide bomber’—were viewed by thousands and shared by hundreds within minutes. The captions alleged she was the woman behind the suicide blast in Lasbela earlier that year.

In plain accounting language, what unfolded online then is called the error of commission—when a transaction is posted to the wrong account because of similar names—an error accountants would call only “moderate” in severity. But for the Mahal in the photos, it was an error that upended her life, her children’s, and that of her family.

Mahal–The Mother was not the same person as Mahal–The Attacker, fact-checking outlet iVerify Pakistan found, with further substantiation from the deputy inspector general of police at Balochistan’s Counter Terrorism Department. It reported that the latter was a 23-year-old law student and member of the Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA), who went by the alias Zilan Kurd.

According to data gathered by iVerify Pakistan, roughly 1,026 potentially misleading and inaccurate claims were recorded on social media platforms across the country between December 2023 and November 2025, of which half were confirmed false. These numbers demonstrate how rapidly and dangerously unverified allegations pick up speed on digital and sometimes mainstream media, reaching millions before fact-checkers can catch up.

‘Collective punishment’

Eventually, the perpetrators move on, and the internet forgets. Mahal–The Mother and her family couldn’t do either.

“Falsely and deliberately linking her to a suicide bomber was not an ordinary accusation … it jeopardised her entire family’s safety,” said her lawyer Imran Baloch. The serious infringement of privacy took place with her identity and personal details disclosed publicly, contributing to “character assassination” in the media.

“Their life is no longer........

© Dawn Prism