Ottawa, 06-06-19:  Representatives of Baloch Human Rights Council (BHRC) and the Sindhi Foundation held a crucial meeting at the office of MP Cheryl Hardcastle, Vice-Chair, Subcommittee on International Human Rights of the Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Development. Honourable MP Cheryl Hardcastle was represented by her Political Advisor and Legislative Assistant, Mr. Tom Allen. 

Zaffar Jawaid of BHRC and Munawar Laghari of the Sindhi Foundation briefed Mr. Allen on the escalating human rights abuses in Balochistan and Sindh enacted by the Pakistani security forces. Rights violations were taking a serious toll on human lives as civilians and rights activists were arrested, disappeared, tortured and extra-judicially killed in custody by military and paramilitary units. 

The human rights advocacy campaign at the Parliament Hill highlighted the extreme repressive measures employed by the Pakistani state to brutally crush civil rights campaigns in Balochistan, Sindh and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa regions. Representatives emphasized that Baloch women and children were being abducted and disappeared in Balochistan along with thousands of students, youth and political activists who are protesting the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, exploiting natural resources and taking over Gwadar port for control over Middle East oil routes to the international market and Central Asia.

Mr. Allen was also briefed on the worrisome, and increasing cases of forced conversions of Sindhi Hindu girls in Sindh that continue to escalate in the absence of a law in Pakistan that prevents forced conversions. 

The representatives from Balochistan and Sindh human rights advocacy groups were assured of active support from the Canadian Members of Parliament on issues that endangered human lives. Mr. Allen expressed serious concern over the human rights situation in Balochistan, Sindh and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and stated that the international law should be respected at all cost to stop violations against civilians.

Source: Balochistan Affairs