Baloch diaspora in UK protests over Pakistan military operations in Balochistan
London, Oct 20 (IANS/WISHAVWARTA) Several members of the Baloch diaspora in the United Kingdom staged a protest outside 10 Downing Street in London against what they described as a “brutal military operation” by the Pakistani forces in the Zehri region of Balochistan, said a leading human rights organisation on Monday.
The demonstration comes amid a mounting human rights crisis in Zehri following weeks of Pakistani military operations that have left several people killed and injured.
The Baloch Voice for Justice (BVJ) said that the demonstrators carried banners and chanted slogans accusing Pakistani security forces of human rights violations.
They called on the UK government to “break its silence” and hold Pakistan accountable for what they termed ongoing abuses in Balochistan.
“According to the organisers, ordinary residents of Zehri are facing a ‘siege-like situation’, with intensified military operations in the area. They alleged that women and children are being killed in bombings, roads have been blocked, and curfews imposed — leaving the local population in a state of extreme distress,” the BVJ stated.
The protestors described the situation as ‘a systematic genocide’ and urged international human rights organisations to send fact-finding missions to the region.
On the other hand, highlighting the atrocities in Balochistan, Paank, the Baloch National Movement’s Human Rights Department on Monday stated that another Baloch civilian was forcibly disappeared by Pakistani forces amid an escalating wave of enforced disappearances across the province.
The rights body mentioned that on October 19, Pakistani Frontier Corps (FC) personnel raided the shop of Adnan Baloch in Mastung district and forcibly took him to an unknown location. Since then, he has been untraceable, and neither his family nor anyone else has been informed about his detention.
The rights body described the incident as yet another addition to the list of forcibly disappeared Baloch individuals by the Pakistani security personnel.
“Adnan is a shopkeeper by profession who was feeding a whole family. His sudden and forced disappearance is the continuation of the ongoing state’s brutal pattern of Baloch rights violations,” the rights body stated
Paank strongly denounced the “illegal arrests” by the Pakistani security forces, calling for the immediate and safe recovery of all the forcibly detained Baloch individuals, including Adnan.
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