NEW DELHI: Prominent Baloch activist Mahrang Baloch has accused Pakistani security forces of opening fire on peaceful protesters in Pakistan’s Quetta, resulting in multiple injuries and one death.
Taking to X, she condemned the incident, stating, “In Quetta, police opened indiscriminate fire on peaceful protesters, leaving many injured and one protester dead. This is how the state responds to peaceful demonstrations in Balochistan.”
The human rights situation in Balochistan was also raised at the 58th session of the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) in Geneva.
Niaz Baloch, Coordinator of the Baloch National Movement (BNM) foreign department and a central committee Member, highlighted ongoing repression in the region.
He claimed that political organisations like the Baloch Students Organisation-Azad (BSO-A) and the BNM face severe crackdowns, with members being arbitrarily detained, harassed, and silenced.
“Enforced disappearances have become a systematic tool of oppression in Balochistan,” he said, emphasizing the seriousness of the crisis.
He cited recent cases of enforced disappearances, including Beeberg Zehri, a Central Committee member of the Baloch Yakjehti Committee, and his brother Hammal Zehri, a scientist. Psychiatrist and Bolan Medical College Vice Principal Ilyas Baloch was also among those forcibly disappeared, along with more than a dozen members of the Qambarani family. Human rights activist Saeeda Baloch and her sister were reportedly arrested as well.
Extrajudicial killings by state-backed groups further escalate the crisis, Niaz Baloch alleged. He pointed to the brutal killing of Shah Jahan Baloch, the brother of BSO Azad’s missing chairman Zahid Baloch, in Naal as an example of “collective punishment inflicted upon Baloch families.”
According to BNM and other Baloch nationalist groups, enforced disappearances, targeted killings, and intimidation tactics are being used by the Pakistani government to suppress political activists and human rights defenders in the region.