Baloch community members living in the United States held a peaceful protest outside Canadian Embassy to express their grievances over the recent killing of one of their popular leaders, Karima Baloch, in Toronto.
In a memorandum submitted to Prime Minister of Canada, the members said: “Large scale public protests in Balochistan are demanding justice for their leader, Ms Karima Mehrab.
“We are asking for an independent inquiry into her tragic death that can provide the community with a sense of safety and closure. The Baloch community-at-large and her family are hoping for justice for Ms Karima Mehrab from the Canadian government.”
While talking to PTI about Karima’s death while the protest was on, Waheed Baloch, the former speaker of Balochistan Provincial Assembly said Karima Baloch was “politically assassinated in Toronto by Pakistani military and ISI operatives.
Waheed added that Karima was a voice of the oppressed people of Balochistan. She was the harshest critic of the Pakistan military and its “genocidal policies and actions in the province.”
Activist Nabi Bakhsh Baloch said Karima encountered a lot of threats to her life in Pakistan and had to seek political asylum in Canada in 2015, where she resided and advocated for the sufferings of the people of Balochistan.
Nabi Baksh Baloch said: “The Pakistani Inter-Services Intelligence agency constantly intimidated her in Canada by sending threatening messages to harm her and the family.
“Her family was targeted in Pakistan and her uncle was arrested, tortured and executed extrajudicially while in custody. Baloch leaders are being assassinated by Pakistani military death squads. We cannot rule out a targeted assassination as the cause of her sudden death.”
