Baloch groups in UK slam Pakistan, raise issue of enforced disappearances

Quetta, Dec 31 (IANS) A Baloch political group held a protest in the United Kingdom's Manchester city against the enforced disappearances of women in Balochistan at the hands of the "occupying" Pakistani forces.

The Free Balochistan Movement, which campaigns for the independence of Balochistan, organised the demonstration in Manchester, drawing attention to the growing pattern of repression against Baloch women by the Pakistani authorities.

Sharing the pictures of the protests on X, showing demonstrators holding placards highlighting the atrocities, the group said: "Over the past month, there has been a significant increase in state repression against Baloch women, including the repeated abduction and enforced disappearance of Baloch women from their homes. In response, the Free Balochistan Movement organised a protest demonstration in the city of Manchester, United Kingdom."

Earlier on Tuesday, a Pakistan-based forum expressed solidarity with women's resistance in Balochistan, endorsing their demands for justice and the safe return of all Baloch civilians subjected to enforced disappearances.

In a statement, Khawateen Mahaz-e-Amal (Women's Action Forum - WAF) called for the "release and honourable acquittal" of Baloch women and others who are "arbitrarily" arrested and imprisoned by the Pakistani authorities -- either "without trial" or through what it described as "blatantly unjust, non-transparent trial" procedures.

Last week, a Baloch student organisation said that the escalating enforced disappearances of Baloch women by Pakistani agencies constituted the most brutal form of genocide in Balochistan, warning that the silence of international human rights organisations was deeply alarming.

"The violation of Baloch traditions by Pakistani military institutions and the sexual violence against Baloch women are intolerable. On a daily basis, Baloch women are forcibly disappeared as a form of collective punishment; they are subjected to torture, false charges are fabricated against them, and through media trials, their honour and dignity are publicly disgraced. Elderly and ill women are thrown into torture cells and subjected to brutal treatment," read a statement issued by the Baloch Students Organisation Azad.

"Pakistani military institutions have been given such unchecked freedom in Balochistan that they carry out drone strikes and bombard civilian populations with modern weaponry, while justifying their policies of Baloch genocide behind colonial narratives such as 'counterterrorism'," it added.

--IANS

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