Quetta, Dec 10 (IANS) Leading Baloch human rights defender, Mir Yar Baloch, on Wednesday wrote to the international community highlighting the "extreme brutality" of Pakistani forces, including air strikes and large-scale military operations across Balochistan.
The human rights activist accused Pakistani Army chief General Asim Munir of trying to sell Balochistan's minerals and rare earth resources, valued in trillions of dollars, to foreign powers.
His letter came on International Human Rights Day, celebrated on Wednesday, commemorating the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights by the United Nations General Assembly on December 10 1948.
"Pakistan's occupational forces continue to deploy extreme brutality, including air power and large-scale military operations, to crush the legitimate and indigenous aspirations of the Baloch people. Our struggle is not one of chaos; it is a struggle of hope for a free Balochistan where equal rights prevail, prosperity is shared, and no land is used to breed terror or extremism," Mir stated.
"Today, under the radical and militarised regime of General Asim Munir, Pakistan is attempting to sell trillions of dollars' worth of Balochistan's minerals and rare earth resources to foreign powers, while simultaneously conducting massive military operations against the very people who own this land," he added.
Mir emphasised that the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, adopted to guarantee dignity, freedom, equality, and justice, is not "privileges reserved for the powerful", but inalienable rights of every person.
"This day exists to remind governments, international institutions, and global powers that silence in the face of injustice is complicity," he stated
The human rights activist alleged that the Baloch are being punished "not for violence, but for opposing illegal occupation, exploitation, loot, and plunder".
Mir emphasised that the continued "illegal presence of Pakistani and Iranian forces" in Balochistan remains the root cause of the gross and ongoing human rights violations. Until this occupation ends, he said, "justice will remain a slogan rather than a reality".
"We are struggling to preserve our identity; to safeguard our resources, boundaries, culture, language, and very existence and existence deliberately eroded by the regimes in Islamabad and Tehran," Mir stated.
He also called on the international community to move beyond "selective morality" and take immediate, concrete action to end the human rights violations in Balochistan.
--IANS
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