Baloch activists protest outside U.N. against Pakistani atrocities, human rights abuse

The Baloch Republican Party (BRP) activists protested outside the United Nations in Geneva on 19 September to highlight the growing atrocities of the Pakistani forces, during the ongoing 36th session of the Human Righs Council.

They shouted anti-Pakistan and anti-China slogans and raised demands to stop the progress of the multi-billion dollar China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC).

Balochistan, literally meaning the land of the Baloch, has been turned into a land of human tragedy under the successive Pakistani military and civil regimes.

Instead of peacefully resolving the political issues and addressing the rightful demands of the Baloch people, the state has responded with the use of force to crush their voices.

The military operations in civilian-populated areas, enforced disappearances, torture, extrajudicial custodial killings of political activists and students, mass abduction of families, silencing journalists and human rights activists, denying access to the media and the NGOs are some of the gruesome measures taken by the Pakistan security apparatus in Balochistan, which defy all international human rights standards.

These cruel violations of human rights have intensified in the wake of the CPEC, the flagship project of China's OBOR/BRI initiative, which aims to connect the Xinjiang region to the Arabian Sea through the Gwadar port of Balochistan.

Ironically, the Chinese investment and extensive development projects under the CPEC have deteriorated the human rights situation, as the state has intensified the use of force to silence the Baloch reservations on the projects.

"We have been sending the same message again and again to the people inside the offices of the United Nations that the Baloch people are suffering enormously at the hands of the Pakistan military and intelligence agencies and these crimes against humanity are growing day by day," Abdul Nawaz Bugti, an activist from the Baloch Republican Party, told ANI.

"There has been a voice inside also. Our main purpose is to take an action against the Pakistani atrocities by the United Nations. This is aimed at achieving by such protests demonstrations, awareness campaigns and the statement inside the UNHRC," he added.

Ahmar Mastikhan, the founder of the American Friends of Balochistan, said that they are creating awareness and there has been a big change in the U.S. and in all these cases, when America takes interest, then all the other countries also get involved in these issues.

The spokesperson of the Baloch Republican Party, Sher Mohammad Bugti, accused China of supporting and funding Pakistan's terrorism and oppression on the people of Balochistan.

He also urged China to stop funding Pakistan.

"Why are people not highlighting their story? Why is there no press in Balochistan's aid? Why can't the media come here and tell people what the Pakistan government and military are doing to these people? It shouldn't be a disputed territory; it is their land. Pakistan is taking their land and giving them nothing. They are killing the most educated people in their community; to leave the uneducated population so they can enslave them," said Tommy Robinson, a British journalist and activist. 

-ANI