Baloch activist files petition urging UN to investigate human rights violations in Balochistan
Jan 13, 2024
Islamabad [Pakistan], January 13 : Baloch activist Mahrang Baloch has filed a petition urging the UN to investigate human rights violations in Balochistan.
The human rights activist has filed a petition demanding a "fact-finding mission led by United Nations working group to investigate the human rights violations in Balochistan."
The Baloch activist urged everyone to sign the petition. "We seek justice and aim to convey our voice and struggle to the international community. I urge you to sign the petition," Mahrang Baloch wrote on 'X'.
While addressing human rights activists around the globe, Mahrang Baloch said: "The Baloch people are enduring severe human rights abuses in Balochistan, leading to a systematic genocide. To halt this atrocity, we, the people of Balochistan, are utilising every means at our disposal."
She added: "Amidst distress, we implore the compassionate individuals of the world to rescue us from this oppressive system."
Recently, United Nations Special Rapporteur on Human Rights Defenders Mary Lawlor voiced concerns over reports of police harassment of protestors against enforced disappearances in Balochistan, Pakistan-based Dawn reported.
She said that "spurious criminal complaints" against the peaceful protesters should be dropped. Currently, protests are being held in Karachi and parts of Punjab and Balochistan in solidarity with the main sit-in by the Baloch Yakjehti Committee (BYC) in Islamabad against enforced disappearances and extrajudicial killings.
Organisers of the sit-in which is being held in Islamabad have accused the police of harassing their supporters and profiling them and lodging first information reports against them, according to Dawn report.
Taking to X, Mary Lawlor stated, "Today I met WHRDs @SammiBaluch & @MahrangBaloch_ to discuss the ongoing protests against enforced disappearances in Balochistan, #Pakistan. The reports of police harassment are v. concerning. Spurious criminal complaints against peaceful protestors should be dropped."
Baloch activist Mahrang Baloch said she informed Mary Lawlor about the police crackdown on peaceful protesters. She also spoke about the "absurd comments" made by Pakistan's Caretaker PM Anwar ul Haq Kakar regarding Baloch missing persons.
In a post shared on X, Mahrang Baloch stated, "We had a pleasant conversation with @MaryLawlorhrds, the UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights, and her colleagues. Informed her about the police crackdown on peaceful protesters, the malicious media campaign, and absurd comments by the caretaker Prime Minister of Pakistan regarding Baloch missing persons. She assured she will continue monitoring our situation and the threats we face."