Brussels: A delegation of Baloch Human Rights Council (BHRC) met members of the European Parliament including Fulvio Martusciello, Andrea Caropa, Giuseppe Milazzo and Massimiliano Salini in Brussels on 23rd July 2019.  The delegation briefed the MEPs about the ongoing widespread human rights violations in Balochistan perpetrated by the Pakistani security establishment.  

The delegation apprised the MEPs about the context of the continued human rights violation by the Pakistani state in Balochistan in which a countless number of innocent Baloch have suffered harassment, illegal detention, torture, and extrajudicial killings for decades. Hundreds of people including students, doctors, teachers, engineers, political activists, and intellectuals have been killed and their bodies were dumped in desolate places in Balochistan in the execution of their infamous “killed and dump” policy. Thousands have been picked up by the security forces, kept incommunicado for years and their fate is still unknown as they have been declared missing. This is in order to contain the Baloch demand of the right of self-determination as mentioned in the United Nations’ Charter. Some of the acts being practices by the security forces in Baloch come into the category of genocide and crimes against humanity.

The delegation mentioned the fact that even the Supreme Court orders mean nothing to the ruling military establishment in Pakistan and demanded that it is high time for the international community to intervene in order to pressurize Pakistan to stop its blatant violation of human rights in Balochistan. 

The MEPs condemned the actions of the Pakistani government and expressed their disappointment on the failure of the Pakistani state to fulfill its obligations regarding the various international covenant on fundamental human rights.  While sympathizing with the victims of security forces, the MEPs opined that in the facade of the fight against terrorism, the Pakistani state cannot absolve itself on the gross violation of human rights in Balochistan.