Islamabad, April 21 (IANS) Global rights watchdog Amnesty International in its annual report has highlighted a pattern of restrictions on civil liberties in Pakistan, including curbs on freedom of expression, peaceful assembly and political participation, local media reported on Tuesday. Amnesty has stated that changes to online speech and anti-terrorism laws in Pakistan have significantly affected freedom of expression and peaceful assembly, resulting in the arrest of journalists, activists and…
Latest Baloch Yakjehti Committee (BYC) News & Updates
Johannesburg, April 1 (IANS) CIVICUS, a global civil society alliance, has called on the Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif to end what it described as the continued harassment of activists and journalists as well as crackdown on protests across Pakistan. According to the organisation, more than two years since the Sharif-led coalition government came to power, Islamabad has failed to create an enabling environment for citizens and civil society to exercise their freedoms.Over the last two …
New Delhi, March 12 (IANS) While resource-rich Balochistan accounts for roughly half of Pakistan’s discovered mineral wealth, the state’s population is amongst the poorest in the country, with human rights suppression adding to the woes of the people along with the economic exploitation.The state accounts for 90 per cent of the country’s copper reserves, substantial gold, sizable coal deposits, chromite, barite, marble, and other industrial minerals. Hydrocarbon resources are also signific…
Quetta, Feb 19 (IANS) Families of Baloch missing persons held a protest outside the Karachi Press Club against what they termed a fake encounter of a young man who had been previously forcibly disappeared and was later killed in a staged police operation, local media reported. The protesters stated that the authorities were not giving the body of the deceased to his family.During the protest, a large number of women and children held placards and demanded justice. Protesters said 24-year-old stu…
Quetta, Jan 3 (IANS) As Pakistani forces continue to escalate the enforced disappearance of civilians across Balochistan, families staged a sit- in protest in province’s Kech district blocking a key stretch of the China–Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) in the Tejaban region for the third consecutive day to demand the recovery of four missing members of the same family, local media reported on Saturday.The demonstration comes amid reports that the district administration broke an agreement, le…
Quetta, Dec 25 (IANS) A leading human rights organisation on Thursday highlighted grave and systematic abuses, including enforced disappearances and targetted killings across Balochistan, allegedly carried out by Pakistani forces in a pervasive climate of impunity. According to a report by the Human Rights Council of Balochistan (HRCB), 106 new cases of enforced disappearance and 42 killings were recorded in the province during the last month.“Among those killed were 11 individuals who had pre…