QUETTA, BALOCHISTAN: BNM Chairman Dr Naseem BalochThanks EU Officials, Slams Bloc’s ‘Overlooking’ of Balochistan Rights Abuses
Dr. Naseem Baloch, Chairman of the Baloch National Movement (BNM), took to social media platform X on Tuesday to renew calls for the European Union to hold Pakistan accountable over what he described as “grave human rights violations” in Balochistan, urging Brussels to review the country’s GSP+ trade privileges.
In his post, Dr Naseem Baloch thanked the Delegation of the European Union to Pakistan and EU Ambassador to Pakistan Raimundas Karoblis for “considering the grave human rights violations that have devastated Balochistan in so many ways” and said Pakistan had “crossed all red lines when it comes to human rights violations.”
“The EU and other democratic powers must stop overlooking grave abuses in the name of trade and strategic interests and hold Pakistan accountable,” he wrote, calling on the international community to stand with the Baloch, Sindhi, Pashtun and Kashmiri peoples, whom he said “continue to suffer immense pain and the loss of their loved ones at the hands of Pakistan’s military and secret services.”
The BNM chairman specifically cited last month’s airstrikes in Surab, which he said killed children and elderly civilians, along with what he described as a pattern of collective punishment, extrajudicial and custodial killings and enforced disappearances including cases have been formally submitted to the EU and other international bodies.
Dr. Baloch urged the EU to act on three fronts, launch a “serious and transparent review” of Pakistan’s obligations under the Generalised Scheme of Preferences Plus (GSP+) trade arrangement, demand independent investigations into the violations and make continued trade privileges conditional on “concrete, verifiable human rights improvements.”
“GSP+ must not become a blank cheque for impunity,” he said.
The statement is the latest in a series of appeals by the BNM to European institutions over the rights abuses in Balochistan, following recent protests by the group in the Netherlands and outside 10 Downing Street in London calling for scrutiny of Pakistani military operations in Balochistan.
