Nadia Baloch, the sister of imprisoned Baloch Yakjehti Committee (BYC) leader Dr Mahrang Baloch, has accused the Pakistani state of running what she called an “organised media campaign” against the Baloch nation.
She said the media was being used in a “planned and coordinated way to silence the human rights movement in Balochistan” and student organisations. She said that while enforced disappearances of Baloch youth and women had sharply increased, “false and baseless narratives” were being promoted through the media to discredit those raising their voices for justice.
Nadia Baloch said “media blackout and censorship” in Balochistan were not new, but had now reached a more dangerous stage. She said mainstream media was being deliberately used to justify “state brutality”, while the real situation of the Baloch people continued to be ignored.
She said that after tightening control over mainstream media, the authorities were now also targeting the social media accounts of Baloch activists. She described this as an “extremely serious and alarming” development.
Nadia Baloch said a “systematic disinformation campaign” was being run through the media to hide what she described as ongoing state repression in Balochistan, including enforced disappearances and other serious human rights violations, while misleading the international community.
She said Baloch people and human rights activists now had a greater responsibility to use the media effectively so that international institutions, the United Nations and global human rights organisations remained informed about what she called “grave human rights violations” against the Baloch nation and did not remain silent spectators.
The remarks come days after the Baloch Yakjehti Committee (BYC) accused Pakistan’s military media wing of using “media trials” to legitimize enforced disappearances, saying state institutions were promoting “scripted narratives” to justify repression in Balochistan.