Freedom for Balochistan will not be denied: Victims of Baloch Genocide

Pakistan occupied Baloch lands in 1948 and crafted a religious state, imposing alien cultural traditions upon the people of Balochistan at the expense of their traditional beliefs and practices.

This was a flagrant intrusion into the Baloch way of life and a blatant denial of the secular and democratic principles to which the Baloch cling, activists said. Since the Pakistani government invaded the region, the people of Balochistan have suffered under constant oppression and terror, they said.

Currently, the Baloch face an unending saga of humiliation, destruction, and grief. Mass graves have been discovered across Balochistan; death squads kidnap social and political activists and human rights defenders, who are then murdered and thrown into these mass graves. Military oppression is the key tactic Pakistan has employed in order to sustain its unjust rule over the Baloch, human rights activists said.

The people of Balochistan were never asked whether they wanted to be part of Pakistan. Furthermore, they never gave their consent to have their territory annexed into the fundamentalist hotbed that is Pakistan. Despite the people’s peaceful requests for a referendum on the future status of Balochistan, the Pakistani government has denied their right to self-determination.

"Pakistan pushes the narrative that the people of Balochistan are happy—that they want to be part of Pakistan. This narrative is baseless and demeaning to the actual lived experiences of the Baloch," said an activist in Geneva.

"Thus, the Baloch Human Rights Council (BHRC)’s 'Save the Baloch' initiative marks an effort to amplify the voices of the people of Balochistan and usher in the restoration of their most basic human rights—to social, cultural, political, and economic autonomy," he said.

Defending the rights of the people of Balochistan is not an option—it is an obligation. In the words of one of the protesters: “Freedom for Balochistan has been long-delayed, but it cannot and will not be denied.”

Because of these transgressions and the lack of UN counteraction, the UN has failed its own mandate to protect and fight for human rights across the globe. Silence from the UN on this matter is essentially an endorsement of this cultural extermination of genocidal proportions, said activists.

The protestors demand that the UN must launch an immediate and thorough investigation into the Pakistani government’s actions in Balochistan and must commit to holding Pakistan accountable for its egregious human rights abuses against the people of Balochistan.