GENEVA: Pashtun Tahafuz Movement (PTM) leader Manzoor Pashteen said Wednesday that Baloch rights activists Mahrang Baloch, Beebow Baloch, Gulzadi Baloch, Bebagr Baloch and Sibghatullah Baloch are imprisoned despite being innocent, accusing the Pakistani state of jailing them for peacefully advocating Baloch human rights.
Pashteen made the remarks in an online address to the 12th Balochistan International Conference, held at the Geneva Press Club and organized by the Baloch National Movement (BNM). The conference was dedicated to the memory of BNM’s slain chairman, Zubair Baloch.
Pashteen said the activists had “no other crime” than raising their voices peacefully, adding that the Pakistani state had responded by handing them life sentences. He said that Baloch youth are being forcibly disappeared on a daily basis and that women and children have been killed inside their homes in aerial strikes in Balochistan.
Describing Pakistan’s rule over the Balochistan as “Punjabi colonialism,” Pashteen claimed Punjab’s industries are sustained by seizing Balochistan’s gas, minerals and gold and that young people who speak out against this are branded terrorists, then jailed or disappear. He said the state refuses to recognize Balochistan as the land of the Baloch people and is instead trying to give its control constitutional cover.
Pashteen said Pashtuns are experiencing comparable repression, citing PTM data on more than 200,000 affected people, with thousands killed and thousands more missing. He said women and children have increasingly been targeted in drone and helicopter attacks over the past two years.
He further claimed that in 2025 and 2026, 72 children aged one year or younger were killed in Pakistan Army drone strikes in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
Pashteen argued that human rights violations in Pakistan are being overlooked because of the country’s ties to US President Donald Trump, saying, “The flattery of one man is being given more importance than the killing of hundreds of thousands of people.”
He also criticized the European Union’s GSP+ trade concession, saying that helicopters and warplanes used against villages are funded through resources tied to that status. He said Europe maintained the concession even after evidence was presented, with Germany backing that decision.
Pashteen called on European governments to at least halt further funding and weapons transfers to Pakistan if more substantial action isn’t possible. He urged Baloch, Pashtun, Sindhi and Kashmiri communities in Europe to distribute pamphlets publicly questioning why European tax funds should go to a state facing serious rights accusations.
He said demonstrations are being held outside United Nations offices in Geneva because protests are restricted within Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
Pashteen closed by praising BNM’s programme and voicing support for continuing the alliance between PTM, BNM and other groups, adding that children and women are also disproportionately killed in aerial bombardment in Afghanistan.
