Baloch human rights activists Tayyaba Baloch said that she is being constantly threatened by the “state elements” for her activisim. “Pakistan will be responsible if any ill befalls me or my family”, she said.
Talking to a press conference in Turbat on Saturday, Tayyaba Baloch said that the political voices or Balochistan have been smothered. She said that she had to pay an “unbearable” and “unforgettable” price for her activism. Human rights organizations must pressurize Pakistan to ensure the freedom of speech in Balochistan, she said.
Ms Baloch said that Balochistan has been afflicted with a “human rights catastrophe”, and this “catastrophe” is not accidental, but the planned “genocide” of the Baloch by the state. She said that no particular class is safe from this “genocide”; political voices have been shut, whereas the people associated with the struggle are being subjected to “collective punishment.”
She said that she joined a human rights organization when she could easily opt for politics because she wanted to help the victims of the “state’s barbarity” and be the voices of their family members.
Being a woman, I was not targeted, but my family had to pay the price for my activism. Local death squads pressurized my father and relatives to such an extent that at one point, my father said: “Tayyaba, stop it now!” she said.
She said that to protect her family, she had to stop seeing and contacting them, but to no avail: her father – Hanif Baloch – was eventually riddled with bullets. She alleged that the state didn’t stop even after her father’s death – the local death squads fired at her uncle’s house.
It is pertinent to mention that Hanif Baloch was killed yesterday when he was sitting outside his music club.