Environmental activist Zunaira Baloch, known for her work on climate change and youth advocacy, said unknown individuals broke into her home in Balochistan’s Hub city, damaging valuable documents and awards.
In a post shared on Instagram on Sunday night, Zunaira said she was in Khuzdar attending her aunt’s wedding when the incident occurred.
“Some people gained unauthorized entry to my home in Hub,” she wrote. “They caused significant damage to my personal belongings and, most distressingly, tore up my passport, UNICEF documents, shields, and trophies.”
She said she was sharing the incident “not to dwell on negativity” but because the destroyed items represented her “commitment to community service and environmental advocacy.”
“It’s disheartening to see this kind of targeted destruction against my work,” she added. “But it only strengthens my resolve. I won’t let this stop me from continuing my advocacy for my community and people.”
The Baloch Women Forum (BWF) strongly condemned the incident, calling it “part of a broader pattern of curbing Baloch voices.”
“Trespassing the home of Baloch climate activist Zunaira Baloch is a broader pattern of curbing Baloch voices,” the BWF said in a statement. “The involved culprits must be brought to the circle of accountability.”
BWF said the trespassers not only broke into her house but also tore her passport, UNICEF documents, shields and trophies, and took her laptop.
“For the last few months, Zunaira has been an active climate activist from Balochistan’s Hub Chowki,” the statement read. “Her efforts have been recognized globally and she was invited abroad for training and field programmes. Harassing her this way is a message from the trespassers that they cannot bear a Baloch, no matter in what sphere they work for collective welfare.”
The forum said it holds law enforcement agencies responsible for failing to respond urgently and urged them “to produce the culprits before a court of law.”
This is not the first time Zunaira Baloch’s family has faced threats or violence. Her father, Abdul Qayyum Zehri, was reportedly forcibly disappeared by Pakistani armed forces from a checkpoint in Hub in November 2020.
Two years later, in 2022, the Counter-Terrorism Department (CTD) claimed to have killed three individuals in an encounter in Quetta. Zehri was among them. His body was initially buried as unclaimed in the city’s Thera Meel graveyard before authorities informed the family and allowed exhumation.
As of Monday evening, Pakistani authorities have not issued any public statement regarding the incident.