Geneva: 25/09/2020

Qambar Malik, the information-secretary of the Baloch Human Rights Council (BHRC) delivered a statement on the deteriorating human rights situation in Balochistan during the Item-4 General Debate of the 45th session of the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva.

“Balochistan is suffering a severe humanitarian crisis, having been in the throes of a ruthless genocidal conflict for the past two decades”, Qambar told the UN. 

The BHRC representative emphasized that the Pakistani army’s sponsored death squads are roaming with impunity. A large number of Baloch youth has been the victim of forcible disappearances and extrajudicial killings. Thousands of them have fled to different countries in recent years.

Commenting on Pakistan military’s crimes against humanity in Balochistan, he further said that the military establishment of Pakistan and its clandestine agencies are kidnapping, torturing, and murdering activists and human rights defenders to counter the Baloch people’s demand to exercise their right to self-determination. The recent killing of a student Hayat Baloch in Turbat testifies to that. He was brutally murdered by the Frontier Corps while his parents were forced to watch his unfortunate fate.

“Considering the gravity of the situation, we request this council to put a resolution in the Council to send a fact-finding mission to Balochistan to investigate the gross violations of human rights and subsequently, make the state military officials accountable for their crimes against humanity in Balochistan”, added Qambar.