Baloch activists protest in Geneva to highlight rights violations by Pak

Geneva: Baloch rights activists have organised a poster campaign in Geneva to highlight Pakistan’s “egregious infractions” in Balochistan where “enforced disappearances and killings” have assumed “epidemic proportions”.
Significantly, the ‘Stop Baloch Genocide’ poster campaign, organised by the Baloch Human Rights Council (BHRC) at the Broken Chair monument area here, coincides with the 42nd session of the United Nations Human Rights Council.
Broken Chair is a monumental sculpture made in wood by the Swiss artist Daniel Berset.
Several protests and demonstrations in Geneva are organised in this area.
“Balochistan is the most deprived region within Pakistan. The China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) – a project allegedly aimed at improving the lives of the people of Pakistan and China – has only exacerbated the deprivation and given Pakistan an excuse to abuse and profit from the abundant resources available on Baloch lands,” a BHRC release said.
What has been officially lauded as an effort to promote bilateral connectivity, investment, and trade initiatives has actually functioned as state-sanctioned “cultural extermination”, it said.
The BHRC seeks to raise vital awareness about Pakistan’s “egregious infractions” with the poster campaign and highlight the country’s “ever-worsening exploitation” of the region.
The poster campaign asserts that “enforced disappearances and killings have assumed epidemic proportions”.
“Villages have been slashed and burned by the Pakistani Army to make room for the settlement of Chinese colonies. Those Baloch whose homes have been destroyed are forced to resettle in abject conditions near the Pakistani Army camps, where they suffer under incessant, hostile surveillance,” the BHRC said.
The posters also draw attention to the fact that more than a dozen mass graves have been discovered on the outskirts of “occupied Balochistan”, where year after year Pakistani security forces have “murdered and then haphazardly dumped hundreds if not thousands of Baloch people”, the Baloch rights body said.
The activists behind the campaign believe the only way to secure justice and peace for the people of Balochistan is for the UN and other relevant international parties to immediately put heavy pressure on Pakistan and level appropriate sanctions against it. (PTI)