Join Aomar Karim’s Official Channel
I’m in exile in the UK, but continuing to struggle for my people’s rights to life and freedom.
Ever since Pakistan occupied Balochistan in 1948 we have had widespread human rights abuses, disappearances, extrajudicial killings. However it’s got significantly worse since about 2000 and particularly a decade after that. Before that it was common for people to disappear and then be released. Now it is much more common for people to be killed and their bodies dumped.
Just before speaking to you I saw the news that just in the last day, 41 people have gone missing in Pakistani-controlled Balochistan.
In recent years the Pakistani army and security forces have particularly targeted students and intellectuals, because they are afraid of their role in raising awareness among the Baloch people. Right now Pakistan is shutting down universities in Balochistan on the thin pretext of security issues. In fact it is part of a broader strategy to restrict Baloch people’s access to education and our possibilities for progress and empowerment.
However the situation is now so bad that all kinds of people are killed; there are even local police officers who are Baloch on the missing persons list, and some have been killed by the army. In previous decades Pakistan usually only disappeared men, but now women are playing a leading role in the Baloch struggle, and have also become targets.
Rape is extremely common – of women, but also men, particularly young men. Often men will be raped and then blackmailed about what has happened, to force them to work as collaborators.
To prevent exposure and challenges to this situation, there is a heavy restriction of the media in Balochistan and regular suspension of the internet. Any visiting from outside Pakistan is heavily restricted.
Balochistan was an independent state, the Khanate of Kalat, from 1666 till 1839, when it was attacked by Britain and started, over the following decades, to effectively lose its independence. We gained our freedom in 1947, before either India or Pakistan did, but in March 1948 Pakistan occupied the country.
Part of Balochistan is also occupied by Iran; it has been since 1928. Today Balochistan is in three parts – in Pakistan, in Iran and in Afghanistan.
There is very severe oppression and repression against the Baloch people in both Pakistan and Iran. Despite the Taliban regime, this is actually less so in Afghanistan. There is a lot less publicity about the Iranian occupation than about the Pakistani one, but in some ways it is even worse, with not just violence but more thorough suppression of political and intellectual activity, reflecting the character of the Iranian regime.
The Baloch people are mostly Sunni Muslims; before Islam, many were Zoroastrians. Our culture is far more secular than many of those surrounding it, and hostile to fundamentalist religion. In Balochistan today we still have Hindus, Christians, Shia Muslims and other minorities and in general there is little conflict between the different people and communities, despite the impulses for repression of minorities that emanate from Pakistan.
I mentioned that the situation has worsened since about 2009. There is an important organisation called the Baloch Student Organisation that was banned as a supposed terrorist group in 2013. A number of leading activists were killed and some very grisly atrocities took place. In 2018 we had the founding of the Balochistan Yakjehti [Solidarity or Unity] Committee, focused on human rights and particularly enforced disappearances, which has taken a lead in new and big waves of protest.
In December 2023 this organisation launched a women-led march from Balochistan across Pakistan to the capital Islamabad. The idea was to break through the media blackout surrounding atrocities in Balochistan and try to reach the consciousness of common people in Pakistan. Since then there has been a very high level of protest, including recently a three-day protest shutdown across Balochistan.
A young woman who leads this movement, Mahrang Baloch [it is common for Baloch people to have this as their surname], has become very prominent and now been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize. [Note, 23 May 2025: on 22 May Mahrang Baloch was arrested during a protest and she is being held.]
Does this protest movement raise the broader issue of self-determination, or is that too difficult?
They do raise it, but they focus on the immediate questions of human rights, extrajudicial killings, disappearances, rape and so on – for instance the Balochistan Yakjehti Committee. These are the most urgent things and raising them somewhat less likely to trigger repression. But I don’t think there is any lack of awareness of why these things are happening and what the underlying issue is, either among organisers or the broad layers of people.
As I understand it, only 40% of people in Pakistani-controlled Balochistan are Baloch. Do people from other communities or ethnic groups support the protest movement?
Yes, we have Pashtun people, Sindhis and many others. They also face discrimination and there is solidarity between different groups against the Punjabi-dominated Pakistani state. Even some intellectually aware Punjabi people take part in protests. There is a left-leaning Balochistan National Party that the Pakistani army has effectively excluded from representation, but it important and it has involvement from different ethnic groups. However Baloch people are the main targets of Pakistani state violence, the enforced disappearances and so on, and the main driving force of protests.
All communities and regions in Pakistan that are not Punjabi face discrimination and oppression, to different degrees. Among Punjabis there is a change; previously many would have called those struggling for their rights traitors, but since the repression of Imran Khan’s movement, many more have turned against the army. [Khan was prime minister 2018-22, but was ousted and is now in prison.] It feels different when your own house is on fire!
The irony is that when Imran Khan was in power the policy towards Balochistan was no different. Please remember that in Pakistan all governments are one way or another brought to power by the army, and the PTI was no different. [Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf, Movement for Justice, is Khan’s party.] Only now when they are suffering repression by the army do some of their leaders and activists start to acknowledge there is some issue. What will they say if the army brings them to power again in the future?
Even many Pakistani leftists are very weak on the Balochistan question. This is partly because of fear of repression. If you want to live in Pakistan, you must not challenge the army too much. There are journalists in Punjab, even, who have done real journalism, journalism challenging the army, and had their homes attacked, or been abducted.
The Baloch people however have no choice but to continue our struggle because we are fighting for the most basic rights to life. Everyone knows someone who has disappeared. We are fighting for our nation’s existence and even people’s right to existence.
The provincial government is from the Pakistan People’s Party? [A supposedly left-leaning party which is both thoroughly neoliberal and has a terrible record on the rights of oppressed peoples in Pakistan, all the way back to Bangladesh’s 1971 war of independence.] How does this happen?
Elections in Balochistan are even more heavily controlled than in other parts of Pakistan, and few people vote. In the 2018 elections the army engineered the creation of a new party, the Balochistan Awami Party; this time they used the PPP.
Can you say something about the economy of Balochistan, its resources, how people make a living and so on?
There is a saying, Pakistan loves Balochistan’s resources, but hates Baloch people… Balochistan makes up a very large part of Pakistani territory [about 44%], and it is resource rich, with gas, oil, copper, gold and other natural resources. There is a lot of US and particularly Chinese “investment” in Balochistan, but it is not the sort of investment that benefits Balochistan’s people, certain not the common people. I should say that China plays an absolutely central role in Pakistan’s oppression and plundering of Balochistan. The port of Gwadar is important for the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, and there are many Chinese specialists and workers in Balochistan.
A lot of Baloch people have to scrape a living in various ways, for instance by petty trading. A lot go to work in the Gulf states – there are almost as many Baloch in Oman as in Afghanistan – and send money back to support their families. There is a very strong culture of people who have some work supporting their families and friends. A few Baloch get jobs in the public sector, for instance as teachers, but not very many.
There are unions, for instance among teachers, but they are generally fairly weak and not involved in political struggle. It is a bit different in Quetta [the capital] where some unions and professional associations are politically engaged, for instance the lawyers’ association, whose members give support to the families of the disappeared.
You mentioned the role of women in the Baloch struggle; can you say more?
Baloch women came to the forefront particularly after 2009, as repression against men became worse. In recent years we have seen women mobilising, for instance, because their brothers, or husbands, or cousins have been killed or disappeared; but also many going beyond that to be political leaders in the struggle.
However there is a long tradition of women being involved in political life in Balochistan and a greater degree of equality than elsewhere in the region. In general we have a more liberal and progressive culture, rejecting the religious extremism of Pakistan. I always remember that in my area there was man who was well known to be gay, and he never had any problems and was very well-liked. I don’t think this would be the case in other parts of Pakistan.
To what extent are people in Balochistan aware of or engaged with other struggles for justice?
There is quite a wide awareness – of Palestine, for instance, Ukraine, DRC and many other places. We do not get this from the Pakistani media or education system but from our minds being open to international media and campaigns, because of our own situation.
In Pakistan as a whole there is a great deal of inconsistency and hypocrisy. There are protests about Israel killing Palestinians; but when China kills and imprisons Uyghur Muslims, there is silence, and they continue to do business deals with China and all the rest.
I want to add that I support the rights of the Palestinian people, but I do not support the fundamentalist politics and Iranian government proxy agenda that Hamas represents. It is the same with Kashmir where you have a legitimate struggle, but also fundamentalist groups created and promoted by Pakistan.
The US and UK governments have a long history of supporting Pakistan’s policy in Balochistan and elsewhere. Is anything changing for the worse with Trump, or for the better with the Labour government here?
The key thing is that they give Pakistan military aid, which is used to kill people in Balochistan. That is not currently changing. The Labour government is not bringing any change; they seem to be maintaining the traditional approach to geopolitics, rather than seeing the argument that peace and human rights are better for the stability of the whole world, and that the Baloch people can be a force against violence and religious extremism. However a few Labour MPs have been vocal in our support – particularly John McDonnell. Hopefully they can produce a change.
I believe I read that Trump is increasing aid to the Pakistani military. Of course this is while he cuts aid to Ukraine and many other countries in need. Both the US and China continue to play their role in facilitating the oppression of the Baloch people.
How can people in the UK make solidarity?
Last year I went to TUC Congress and gave out a leaflet with information about our struggle; I believe Baloch people in the UK should do more to reach out to the wider society here. I ask British people to join our demonstrations, to invite Baloch speakers to their meetings, to raise the issue with their representatives and MPs. If people learn about our struggle they will see we do need support, as do many others – just as much as Palestine and Ukraine.
This interview was originally published on South London Socialist.
📺 Watch Latest Videos
Shaheed Nawab Akbar Khan Bugti Remembrance – London, 26 August 2025 | BRP UK Zone
The event brought together political and human rights activists to honour Bugti’s legacy and lifelong struggle for the Baloch nation. Attendees paid tribute and shared their solidarity in memory of the late leader.
Watch the full highlights of the Nawab Bugti remembrance event in London.
Read News here: https://aomarkarim.com/london-event-marks-20th-anniversary-of-baloch-leader-nawab-akbar-khan-bugti/
#ShaheedNawabAkbarKhanBugti #BalochRepublicanParty #BRPUKZone #BalochLeader #LondonEvent #BalochActivists #HumanRights #PoliticalActivism #26August2026 #BalochHeritage
----------------------------------
Welcome to @AomarKarim Dive into Balochistan's heart as we discuss education, science, technology, entertainment, society, and politics. Subscribe for insightful conversations and a holistic perspective
🌟 Subscribe, hit the bell, and be part of [ @AomarKarim ]—where knowledge meets the heart. https://www.youtube.com/@AomarKarim/featured?sub_confirmation=1
💬 Join the Conversation: Share your thoughts and questions about this Video.
Connect with Aomar Karim on social media.
Website: https://aomarkarim.com
✔ WhatsApp Channel: https://whatsapp.com/channel/0029VaDbnxXIXnlqtYCtVd0l
✔ Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/aomarkarimjournalist
https://www.tiktok.com/@aomar.karim
✔ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/aomar_karim7305/
✔ X {Twitter}: https://twitter.com/Aomar_karim
✔ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/aomar-karim-9318ab30
----------------------------|Thanks |------------------------Show More
