Pakistan: Baloch Yakjehti Committee to hold protest across Balochistan on Eid against genocide

QUETTA: The Baloch Yakjehti Committee (BYC) on Tuesday announced the decision to hold protests against the Baloch genocide across Balochistan on Eid. In a press release, the BYC spokesperson stated, "protests will take place across Balochistan on Eid as part of the fifth phase of the ongoing movement against the Baloch genocide. The schedule and details of these protests will be announced in the media shortly. Additionally, the BYC extends its support to the protest call by Voice for Baloch Missing Persons (VBMP) in Karachi and Quetta against enforced disappearances."

According to the press release, the people of Balochistan are facing systematic genocide based on their identity, including enforced disappearances, extrajudicial killings, military operations, forced displacements, economic oppression, and other atrocities. In a press release, BYC stated, "The Baloch nation is currently enduring systematic genocide based on its identity, including enforced disappearances, extrajudicial killings, military operations, forced displacements, economic oppression, and other atrocities. The BYC has initiated a movement against this genocide, including a prolonged sit-in in Islamabad, the capital city of Pakistan."

"However, despite these efforts, the state persists in its policy of Baloch genocide, with enforced disappearances continuing unabated. Moreover, extrajudicial killings of those subjected to enforced disappearances persist.

Recently, two Baloch youths who forcibly disappeared from Lyari last year were extrajudicially killed. The Baloch Yakjehti Committee's campaign against the Baloch genocide is currently in its fifth phase on the day of Eid," it added.

Previously, senior Baloch Human Rights Council (BHRC) leaders, human rights activists, and press personnel highlighted the severe deterioration of the human rights situation in Balochistan and the atrocities inflicted by the Pakistani administration upon the Baloch community. The activists had participated in a side event organised on the sidelines of the ongoing 55th session of the United Nations Human Rights Council in Switzerland's Geneva.

Speaking to ANI, BHRC General Secretary Qambar Malik Baloch said, "We intended to bring together various representatives of various oppressed communities in Pakistan. We heard their experiences and sufferings as the Pakistani authorities violated human rights laws. Despite international attention and condemnation, Pakistan continues to violate the rights of the oppressed communities under its control with impunity and no accountability."

"Additionally, there has been an alarming rise in the number of enforced disappearances and extrajudicial killings in Balochistan," he added. Speaking about the data collected by the BHRC on enforced disappearances, Malik said that about 506 individuals were subjected to enforced disappearances in Balochistan, and about 47 of these forcibly disappeared individuals had fallen due to extrajudicial killings