Photo exhibition outside UNHRC in Switzerland highlights human rights violations in Pak's Balochistan
Jun 29, 2021
Geneva [Switzerland], June 29 : A three-day-long photo and poster exhibition in front of the United Nations office in Geneva has highlighted the plight of indigenous Baloch people in Pakistan's largest and resource-rich province of Balochistan.
The campaign has been launched by the Baloch Voice Association during the ongoing 47th regular session of the UN Human Rights Council.
Munir Mengal, the president of Baloch Voice Association said, "The aim of our presentation, photo exhibition and putting banners in front of the United Nations office in Geneva is to present human rights violations in Balochistan which are being done by the Pakistani state forces".
He added, "Everyday, we hear news reports from the civil society representatives and from organisations like the Voice for Baloch Missing Persons and family members that there have been incidents of enforced disappearances of Baloch people including Baloch women and children by Pakistani forces and secret agencies during the daylight".
In Balochistan, the indigenous people have been facing the worst human rights crisis where not only killings and abductions are common, but economic exploitation is rampant for the past several years.
Mengal said, "The number of (enforced disappearances) cases have increased so much that according to a report more than 40,000 Baloch people are missing. We have reports that many dead bodies have been recovered over there. They torture them and their mutilated dead bodies are on the streets, deserts or on a road side".
The family members of many Baloch missing persons have been protesting outside the Press Clubs in Quetta, Karachi and Islamabad to seek justice.
"The family members of the victims are continuously protesting at Press Clubs in Quetta, Karachi and at Islamabad under the banner of Voice for Baloch for Missing Persons. Mama Qadir Baloch and Nasarullah Baloch have been protesting for more than 4,000 days continuously to know the whereabouts of those taken by the forces," Mengal further remarked.
The exiled Baloch political activists continue to seek the intervention of the UN to force Islamabad and release all those abducted by the Pakistani security forces.
