The Network Women Weaving the Future, a group that focuses on women’s liberation across the globe, has publicly expressed its support for the Baloch Long March. In a statement issued on Monday, the Network affirmed, “We, as the Network Women Weaving the Future, declare our solidarity with the Baloch Long March.”
The Baloch Long March, led by Baloch women, is a significant protest covering over 1200 kilometers from Turbat to Islamabad. The march is a response to the alleged atrocities committed by the Pakistani state, including enforced disappearances, extrajudicial killings, and military operations that have reportedly subjected thousands of Baloch to harsh and violent conditions.
The Network said it stands with the Baloch women and the people of Balochistan in their demands for an end to state abductions, encounter killings, and army operations. They are calling for the immediate release of all those forcibly disappeared and, if deceased, for their bodies to be returned to their families for a dignified burial, the group said.
The Network also demanded the abolition of “death squads” and the Counter-Terrorism Department, identified by Baloch activists and protestors as key culprits. The group called for an end to fake encounter killings, an immediate halt to military raids, and accountability and justice for the atrocities allegedly committed by the Pakistani state.
The Network recognized that enforced disappearances, extrajudicial killings, and army operations are tools of state repression, used against other marginalized groups including the Pashtuns, Sindhis, Shias, Mohajir, and political opponents.
The group joined the women and people of Balochistan in their resistance against being silenced and against “state terror.”
“We share their pain as people who have been subject to similar atrocities by violent and patriarchal states”, the group said.
The Network sent this statement of solidarity to their Baloch “sisters” and “comrades-in-struggle”, and said that it recognizes that oppression and resistance everywhere are interconnected. The group invited all people, especially women’s and feminist movements as well as abolitionist, anti-racist, anti-colonial, and anti-capitalist movements around the world, to stand in solidarity with the Baloch as they march and protest.