Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s warning to Pakistan on its atrocities in Pakistan Occupied Kashmir (POK) and Balochistan has struck just the right chord, with Balochistan activists on Saturday welcoming “the first remarks by any Indian PM in their support” and urging him to take up the issues of their human rights violation in the United Nations and other international forums. Modi’s statement comes at a time when international human rights watch groups too have raised the red flag over the brutal killings and disappearance of Baloch and POK activists.
On Saturday, massive protests took place in Gilgit in POK demanding the release of their leader Baba Jan, and asking the Pakistan Army to vacate Gilgit area. The protesters were also agitated over the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor and the human rights violations by the Pakistan Army, which has been brutally killing people raising their voice.
Minister of State in the Prime Minister’s Office Jitendra Singh, meanwhile, vowed that India will make all efforts to draw attention of the world to the kind of human rights violation that is taking place in that region. He said it was the moral and national responsibility of Indians to stand by “our brothers in POK and also Gilgit-Baltistan,” signalling the Government’s intent at paying back Pakistan in the same coin. In fact, he went a step further saying the actual culmination of (BJP’s) “Tiranga yatra” will be in Kotli, Muzaffarabad “when we succeed in hoisting the Tricolour of India in POK”.
India’s firm stand has come as a big support to the POK, and Balochistan activists believe that a push from India will help check human rights violations by the Pakistani security forces and also in the liberation of their area.
International representative and Foreign spokesperson of Baloch National Movement Hammal Haider told The Pioneer from london, “We have been trying for several years to raise the issue of Balochistan and human rights violation there at all levels. Unfortunately, our voice was not being heard. PM Modi’s statement supporting freedom movement of Balochistan is very important and his statement is a beacon of hope. This is the first time ever that an Indian PM has expressed his wish to support Baloch people. We hope the Indian
Government continues to make the issue of Balochistan part of its long-term official policy and raise our issue.”
Another Balochistan freedom activist Karima Baloch tweeted, “India and the world must encounter Pakistan on the war crimes it is committing in Balochistan. It is a genocide going on. Thank you @narendramodi for raising Balochistan’s issue. Hope the world will follow and help us get our freedom.”
Mentioning about the atrocities by Pakistani security forces, Haider said several people, including his own close friends, have been killed over the years. “Pakistan is butchering Sindhi political activists and supporting religious groups which are a threat to the world… Pakistan has never complied with international rules, they’re killing Baloch people,” Haider said.
The latest is the case of human rights activist Wahid Baloch, who was picked up by Pakistani security forces in Karachi on July 26. He never returned since then. “He is at grave risk of ill-treatment, torture, or even death. Scores of other activists who have been forcibly made to disappear in Karachi and the neighbouring province of Balochistan have suffered similar fates in recent years,” international human rights group Amnesty International said. It added Baloch’s abduction follows a pattern of enforced disappearances of people of Baloch community from Balochistan and Karachi.
Haider said Baloch has been picked up because he was fighting for the disappeared persons. “I have known Wahid for the last 14 years. He is a human rights activist and does not have a political agenda. In fact, he is well known in literary circles. We worry for him,” Haider said. The Asian Human Rights Commission too recently released a report on Pak brutality on people in Gilgit-Baltistan and Balochistan.