Balochistan [Pakistan] January 20 : The Baloch Yakjehti Committee (BYC) announced on Saturday it would mark January 25 as "Baloch Genocide Remembrance Day" and called on Baloch communities worldwide to organise events drawing attention to what it describes as decades of violence, enforced disappearances and repression in Balochistan, according to a report by The Balochistan Post (TBP).
In its statement, the group said, "Genocide was not confined to mass killings but could also take the form of a slow, systematic and silent process that destroys a people's identity and way of life."
It said communities targeted because of their identity faced killings, enforced disappearances, denial of healthcare, economic exploitation and psychological trauma, TBP reported.
The BYC said violence against the Baloch began when they were initially targeted due to their identity and has persisted through military operations and what it termed structural deprivation. It said repression has intensified in recent years, including against women and children. The group linked the date to January 25, 2014, when over 100 mutilated bodies of forcibly disappeared Baloch youths were found in a mass grave in the Tootak area of Balochistan.
It said the Remembrance Day was first formally declared at a gathering held in January 2024 in Quetta. Last year, the group said, a major event for "Baloch Genocide Remembrance Day" in Dalbandin faced restrictions, including harassment of participants, disruption of communications and the registration of cases against organisers, as cited by the TBP report.
The group said the state had entered what it described as a "dark phase of fascism", with public leaders imprisoned, peaceful assemblies restricted, and the rate of killings and disappearances increasing. The BYC urged the Baloch people in Balochistan and overseas to organise protests, seminars, cultural programs, and media campaigns on January 25, and to engage diplomats, activists, and journalists, TBP reported.
The group said awareness material would be shared through its platforms and that local units had been instructed to document cases of what it describes as genocide and stay in contact with affected families.
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