Photo exhibition in Geneva highlights persecution of Baloch
Mar 02, 2021
Geneva [Switzerland], March 2 : A three-day exhibition highlighting the persecution of Baloch people in Pakistan's Balochistan province has been launched in front of Palais Wilson on the sidelines of the ongoing 46th Session of the Human Rights Council (HRC) in Geneva.
The exhibition is organised by the Baloch Voice Association with an objective to present the ill-treatment of the Baloch.
"The photos presented as how the Pakistan Army is doing military operations in Balochistan on a routine basis. How they are killing and taking away people. These banners show that in 2020 alone Pakistan Army conducted 682 military operations in Balochistan. More than 1,100 houses were burned and Pakistan Army looted 2,200 houses. During military operations, Pakistan Army does open use of gunship helicopters, abductions, killings and abuse of rights," said Munir Mengal, President of Baloch Voice Association.
The exhibition also highlighted the grave concern of missing persons in the province.
"In the year 2020, 35 percents of the incidents of enforced disappearances were reported from home whereas 30 percent were from work places and 14 percent of the incidents were reported from colleges and universities," said Munir.
He confirmed that the data collected from Balochistan shows that cases of enforced disappearances have increased to 8 percent in 2020 as compared to 2019.
Munir said that people from the age group of 14 to 40 are mostly picked by the security agencies. There is also a rise in the number of enforced disappearances of women and children in Balochistan.
"Many mass graves are also recovered in Balochistan which indicates the genocide of the Baloch people by Pakistan's security agencies," Munir said.
