Baloch leader calls for unity among community to end 'injustice', 'deprivation' of people

Accusing the "outsiders" of repressing the people of Balochistan, local political leader Mir Israr Ullah Khan Zehri called for unity among the Baloch community to end the "injustice and deprivation of people".

For the last 15 years the outsiders have taken away the rights of the local people and the doors of politics are closed for the Baloch political workers, Pakistan's Urdu Newspaper Express Daily reported.

Addressing a senior body meeting in Khuzdar, leader of the Balochistan National Party (Awami) Mir Israr Ullah Khan Zehri said that our workers are facing extreme difficulties but we have not changed our stand.

The confidence of people in our party is increasing day by day and we are sure that one day we will get our target, Express Daily reported.

Balochistan is a resource-rich but least developed province of Pakistan where a movement for freedom has been ongoing for the past several decades. Many Balochs believe that the region was independent before 1947 and was forcibly occupied by Pakistan.

While successive governments have promised to criminalise enforced disappearance, none has taken concrete steps and the practice continues with impunity.

Recently, fighting between the Pakistan security forces and Baloch insurgents have intensified in the region.

In its 2020 Country Reports on Human Rights, the US State Department has highlighted significant human rights issues in Pakistan, including unlawful or arbitrary killings by the government and forced disappearance of Pashtun, Sindhi and Baloch human rights activists.

( With inputs from ANI )

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