Lahore: From Quetta, prominent Baloch human rights activist and Baloch Yakjehti Committee leader Sammee Deen Baloch has issued a strong indictment of the Pakistani state, asserting that the crisis in Balochistan is rooted not in armed insurgency but in the systematic targeting of Baloch identity itself.
In a sharply worded statement shared on social media platform X, Baloch alleged that the Pakistani establishment views the entire Baloch population as a threat, a mindset she says has led to widespread human rights violations. According to her, unarmed civilians are routinely subjected to enforced disappearances and killings, with victims spanning all ages and genders, including women and children.
“Every Baloch is a target,” she wrote, claiming that disappearances and extrajudicial killings are not limited to suspected militants. “It is not resistance that frightens the state—it is our existence.”
Baloch rejected Pakistan’s repeated justification of such actions under the banner of counterterrorism, calling it a façade designed to obscure what she described as an anti-Baloch agenda. She questioned how the abduction and killing of innocent civilians could be reconciled with any legitimate security operation.
Responding to official denials of genocide allegations, Baloch argued that the deliberate and sustained targeting of an ethnic identity meets the very definition of genocide. She further accused the state of abandoning constitutional values and international humanitarian commitments, alleging that even basic wartime protections for women and children are being ignored.
Describing Balochistan as living under constant fear, she pointed to allegations of state-backed armed groups, unlawful detentions, and summary punishments. Baloch urged the international community to take note of what she termed an ongoing humanitarian and human rights crisis in the region.
Her remarks have added to growing calls from activists for greater global scrutiny of the situation in Balochistan, where allegations of enforced disappearances and rights abuses have persisted for years.
