Geneva: March 27/03/2024
Human rights activists have called upon the UN to dispatch a fact-finding mission to investigate human rights violations in Balochistan.
During the ongoing 55th Session of the UN Human Rights Council, a side event hosted by the Centre of Gender Justice and Women Empowerment, an NGO in Special Consultative Status with the United Nations. The title of the side event was, “Human Rights in Pakistan” moderated by the General Secretary of the Baloch Human Rights Council, Qambar Malik, in Room XXV of the UN building. The side event featured speakers from various oppressed nations in Pakistan who highlighted various aspects of the atrocities faced by their people in Pakistan.
Mr Qambar Malik elaborated that in constant violation of national and international laws and its obligations under various UN conventions, Pakistan has been committing heinous crimes against humanity in Balochistan and elsewhere in Pakistan. Providing data collected by the Baloch Human Rights Council on enforced disappearances and extrajudicial killings of Baloch political and human rights activists, including women and children, he lamented that the perpetrators of these crimes are roaming around with impunity. He provided a brief background of the human rights situation in Balochistan, emphasizing that the Baloch struggle for self-determination directly resulted from Pakistan’s invasion of Balochistan and its forceful annexation into Pakistan in 1948 against the will of the Baloch people.
Baloch National Movement Chairman, Dr Naseem Baloch, expressed his concern about the existential threat faced by the Baloch people on the sociocultural, economic, and political fronts. He called upon Europe and the international community to break their silence about the humanitarian crisis in Balochistan and urged them to make Pakistan accountable for its crimes in Balochistan.
Prominent among the representatives of various human rights organizations who spoke at the occasion on various aspects of human rights violations facing different oppressed nations in Pakistan included Dr Hidayat Bhutto of World Sindhi Congress, Dr Naseem Baloch, Chairman Baloch National Movement (BNM), Sardar Nasir Aziz Khan of United Kashmir Peoples National Party (UKPNP), Fazal ur Rehman Afridi, President of IRESK, Hassan Hamdam, Vice president of Baloch Human Rights Council (BHRC), and Razzak Baloch of BHRC.
Activists from various international human rights organizations attended the event.